Chattanooga-based BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee earned $199.7 million during 2014 on total revenues of $10.8 billion, according to company filings with the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance.
The not-for-profit insurer said it lost $141 million on its health exchange plans sold under the Affordable Care Act due to heavier-than-expected health care claims by the 164,896 Tennesseans BlueCross covered under the new Obamacare plans. BlueCross' tax bill also jumped 72 percent to a record high $463 million last year, largely due to new taxes levied under provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
But BlueCross offset those losses and extra costs with income from its commercial insurance, Medicare and TennCare businesses and the gain from the sale of the information technology company it uses, TriZetto.
BlueCross, which already insures nearly half of all Tennesseans, boosted its enrollment by 5 percent last year to 3.3 million members and boosted medical claims paid by 8 percent.
"Overall, we had a good year in terms of growth in memberships and revenues and had one line of business that didn't perform as expected," said Roy Vaughn, vice president of corporate communications for BlueCross. "We were able to get through last year based upon the breadth of our business and the benefit of a one-time gain in investments."
Nearly two-thirds of the company's profits came last year from a $126.1 million gain in investment income, primarily from the sale of BlueCross's share in the $2.7 billion sale of TriZetto. BlueCross bought a piece of the health care information technology company it uses in 2008 but agreed to sell TriZetto last fall to Cognizant Technology Solutions.
