Medicare Drug Benefit Sparks an Industry Land Grab

The WSJ has a fascinating article today on the business impact of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. Our own UnitedHealth (UNH) is one of the major beneficiaries:

Defying early predictions that private insurers wouldn’t offer prescription-drug policies, dozens of companies are offering regional plans and 10 are selling them nationwide. The government is heavily subsidizing the policies, for which 42 million people are eligible. It’s a big and unexpected growth opportunity at a time when the industry’s traditional business — administering employer health benefits — is stagnant or shrinking.
UnitedHealth, based in Minnetonka, Minn., is one of the most aggressive players and one of the most successful so far. It has signed up about 2.8 million Medicare beneficiaries, either to stand-alone drug plans or within its more comprehensive Medicare plans. It picked up 1.5 million more sign-ups from its acquisition in December of PacifiCare Health Systems.

Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on January 25th, 2006 at 12:49 pm

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