Chicago-based Health Care Service Corp., the umbrella company of five Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, reported a $1.26 billion surplus in 2017, turning around three years of losses and modest growth, Crain's Chicago Business reports.
Here are four things to know about the insurance company's results for the latest fiscal year.
1. HCSC's more than 10-fold increase in net income, compared to 2016, puts the payer back in line with its financials before it shouldered losses on its ACA exchange plans.
2. HCSC lost $281.9 million and $65.9 million in 2014 and 2015, respectively. In 2016, HCSC earned $106.3 million in profit.
3. The parent company of Blues plans in Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas collected premiums of $32.5 billion in 2017, up 7.4 percent year over year, Crain's reports. This is after its premium revenue was down 3 percent in 2016.
4. In March 2018, HCSC announced it will invest $1.5 billion in initiatives to cut its members' healthcare costs due to the turnaround. The three-year effort, dubbed Affordability Cures, targets five areas: collaborative care, household financial security, productive employees, healthy communities, and digitally-driven and data-rich actions.