Healthcare Insights

Largest healthcare insurance companies by incurred claims

Hospital revenue sources breakdown into a payor mix of private insurance companies and government insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

The percentage of the total payor mix from private/self-pay revenue reached 68% in 2021, reflecting market dynamics like private insurance companies compensating hospitals at a higher rate than government programs and increasing Medicare Advantage enrollment.

How is the size of health insurance companies measured?

Some of the main figures to measure and compare the size of health insurance companies include:

  • Annual revenue
  • Member enrollment or covered lives
  • Claims volumes and total values
  • Premiums earned

Different health insurance companies are the largest based on the different metrics. For example, UnitedHealthcare has the highest revenue among health insurance companies while Kaiser Permanente Health Plans has the highest covered lives.

The Definitive Healthcare ConnectedCareView product tracks key metrics on over 1,200 payor and payor subsidiary organizations. Financial data for health insurance payors is sourced from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Consumer Information and Oversight (CCIIO) Medical Loss Ratio reports for calendar year 2021, the most recent data available.

What are total incurred claims?

The total incurred claims metric in ConnectedCareView represents direct claims paid to or received by physicians and other clinical providers, including under capitation contracts with those providers, whose services are covered by the policy for clinical services or supplies covered by the policy.

The following list highlights the largest 20 payors (excluding payor subsidiaries) based on total incurred claims for calendar year 2021, the most recent full year of data available.

Top 20 largest healthcare insurance companies by total incurred claims

RankDefinitive IDPayor nameStateTotal incurred claimsCovered livesExplore dataset
1583130Kaiser Permanente Health PlansCA$50,868,696,538 9,245,150Explore
2575957Elevance Health (FKA Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield)IN$35,126,914,250 6,401,147Explore
3583151UnitedHealthcare (AKA UnitedHealth Group)MN$33,262,198,160 7,177,594Explore
4853221Health Care Service Corporation GroupIL$30,978,958,781 5,180,391Explore
5552479Guidewell Mutual Holding Group (FKA Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida)FL$16,266,643,959 2,489,533Explore
6575895Centene CorporationMO$14,433,366,182 2,603,146Explore
7552477Blue Shield of CaliforniaCA$13,902,139,597 2,498,551Explore
8552436Cigna Healthcare (FKA Cigna)CT$13,635,233,838 2,339,657Explore
9552393AetnaCT$12,942,560,236 2,417,163Explore
10575917CareFirst BlueCross BlueShieldMD$7,718,169,035 1,381,774Explore
11552480HighmarkPA$7,252,547,816 1,273,066Explore
12552472BlueCross BlueShield of Michigan GroupMI$7,244,595,890 1,470,811Explore
131041823BlueCross Blue Shield of NC GroupNC$6,609,474,878 1,019,222Explore
14553215Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New JerseyNJ$5,805,644,169 811,410Explore
15575753BlueCross BlueShield of Massachusetts GroupMA$5,715,471,268 873,838Explore
161057866BlueCross BlueShield of Alabama GroupAL$5,258,149,835 952,089Explore
17577321Tufts Health Plan of Point32Health (FKA Healthcare Holdings - Tufts Health Plan)MA$4,367,303,095 726,710Explore
181061661Independence Health Group IncPA$3,993,196,060 819,444Explore
19829067Cambia Health SolutionsOR$3,966,733,964 800,042Explore
20552481Humana GroupKY$3,853,569,794 674,480Explore

Fig 1 Data is from the Definitive Healthcare ConnectedCareView product and sourced from the CMS Consumer Information and Oversight (CCIIO) Medical Loss Ratio reports. The most recent data is from calendar year 2021. Accessed October 2023.

What is the largest healthcare payor by incurred claims?

Kaiser Permanente Health Plans had the highest incurred claims at more than $51 billion. Kaiser Permanente is one of the largest healthcare systems in the U.S. and predominately based in the western U.S. with many hospitals in California. The state’s high population likely contributes to the high patient count for the health plans. Kaiser Permanente operates a unique model in which they offer patient care services in addition to health insurance coverage.

Elevance Health (formerly known as Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield) had $35 billion in incurred claims, followed by UnitedHealthcare, with $32 billion in total incurred claims reported.

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