<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt;color:#000000;"><font size="4"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Health insurers boost profits, reserves</span></font><br>By VANESSA HO<br>SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF<br><br>Washington's largest health insurers mostly bounced back from the recession last year, with bigger profits and reserves, according to annual statements filed this month.<br><br>Regence BlueShield continued its upward trend, with a $51.3 million profit and $956.5 million surplus, a record high in a decade. The insurer posted an underwriting gain of $10.5 million, reversing a two-year slide in insuring activities.<br><br>Premera Blue Cross also reversed its downward course, with $119 million in profit and $879.4 million in surplus. The company's net income was a significant rise over its 2009 earnings of $21 million, and higher than its
pre-recession profits of 2006 and 2007. Like Regence, Premera's surplus also hit a 10-year high.<br><br>Both companies attributed the earnings to stronger investment markets and fewer people using medical care than was expected. Premera spokesman Eric Earling said last year's flu season was less severe than anticipated and fewer people were having kids, possibly due to the economy. ..<br><br>...Premera president and CEO, H.R. Brereton "Gubby" Barlow, made $2.2 million, including a $1.2 million bonus. That's slightly less than last year.<br><br>Regence president and CEO Mark Ganz earned $748,140 in Washington, a bump up from his $575,885 earnings the year before. Those figures do not include Ganz's Oregon and Idaho earnings.<br><br>Last year, Ganz' compensation in Washington and Oregon alone was nearly $1.1 million.<br><br><span>Story: <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.seattlepi.com/local/436714_insurance07.html">http://www.seattlepi.com/local/436714_insurance07.html</a></span><br><br></div><br>
</body></html>