Largest Health Insurance Companies of 2022
The five largest health insurance companies by membership are UnitedHealth Group, Anthem, Aetna, Cigna, and Humana.
The top health insurers by market share are UnitedHealth Group, Anthem, Centene, Humana, and Health Care Service Corp. (HCSC). Together these companies control nearly 46% of the health insurance market.
All of these providers offer basic health insurance products to individuals and companies, along with other services that can include Medicaid and Medicare policies, long-term care insurance, dental insurance, and vision benefits.
What are the biggest health insurance companies?
The biggest health insurance companies in the United States include well-known insurance providers. Many of these companies offer a range of health products, and others specialize in specific areas. For example, while continuing to service its existing Affordable Care Act (ACA) policies, Humana now sells only Medicare plans to new members.
Top 5 largest health insurance companies by membership
The largest health insurance provider can be defined as the company that has the highest number of members. Also called covered lives, membership means the number of individuals who are enrolled in a health insurance plan with that provider. You can enroll in a health insurance policy in many different ways. For example, your employer’s benefit plan may offer health insurance coverage. Other ways include:
- Medicare and retirement plans
- Medicaid services
- Individual health insurance (through open enrollment)
1. UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealthcare, part of UnitedHealth Group, is the largest health insurance company by total members. UnitedHealthcare offers a variety of products from individual health insurance to full employer benefit plans for some of the biggest corporations. Furthermore, its policies can be purchased in all 50 states. UnitedHealthcare is headquartered in Minnetonka, Minn.
Along with having the most members, UnitedHealthcare also has a network of over 1.3 million physicians and health care professionals, with more than 6,500 hospitals. This means that if you have UnitedHealthcare, you will have many options to choose from to receive care.
2. Anthem
Anthem is the second-largest medical insurance provider by total members, with more than 45 million members. The company’s Commercial and Business health care segment offers network-based care to large and small businesses, individuals, and Medicaid and Medicare markets.
Anthem is part of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. This means that when searching for Anthem policies on your state marketplace exchange, you may find products with the BCBS name, but you will be buying from Anthem.
The company currently operates in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
3. Aetna
Aetna was acquired by CVS Health Corp. in 2018. CVS Health now operates the company and has been able to seamlessly integrate its provider networks with Aetna’s membership base. Founded in 1853, Aetna is the third-largest provider of health insurance and services, by the membership. However, much of its membership comes from providing health insurance to employers and their employees in the private market. Aetna returned to a limited number of ACA marketplaces for the 2022 plan year.
4. Cigna
Cigna is the fourth-largest major medical insurance company in the United States. Headquartered in Bloomfield, Conn., Cigna offers health insurance and health services to companies throughout the world. In addition to corporate health insurance policies and management of those plans, Cigna also offers dental, behavioral health, vision, supplemental health, and Medicare/Medicaid benefits.
Cigna currently offers individual health insurance in 13 states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia. Cigna also provides Medicare Advantage plans in 16 states and Washington, D.C.
5. Humana
Humana comes in as the fifth-largest health insurance company by the membership. The provider was founded in 1961 and originally sold long-term care insurance before expanding into selling health insurance policies. Humana has not offered new individual ACA health insurance since January 2018 but will continue to honor its existing ACA policies. Humana is now focused on serving the Medicare market, with either a Medicare Advantage or a supplemental plan (or both) available in every state.
Largest major medical insurance provider by state
Individual health insurance policies can be purchased through the health insurance marketplace if you currently do not receive health care through an employer or a federally funded program like Medicaid or Medicare. In 2021, 13.6 million people enrolled in plans through the health insurance marketplace.
Below is the biggest health insurance provider in each state by total market share.
State
|
Company
|
---|---|
Alabama | Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama |
Alaska | Premera Blue Cross |
Arizona | Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona |
Arkansas | Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield |
California | Anthem Inc. |
Colorado | Anthem Inc. |
Connecticut | Anthem Inc. |
Delaware | Highmark |
District of Columbia | CareFirst |
Florida | GuideWell |
Georgia | Anthem Inc. |
Hawaii | Hawaii Medical Service Association |
Idaho | UnitedHealth Group |
Illinois | Health Care Service Corp. |
Indiana | Anthem Inc. |
Iowa | Wellmark Inc. |
Kansas | Centene Corp. |
Kentucky | Anthem Inc. |
Louisiana | UnitedHealth Group |
Maine | Anthem Inc. |
Maryland | CareFirst |
Massachusetts | Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts |
Michigan | Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan |
Minnesota | Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota |
Mississippi | Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi |
Missouri | Anthem Inc. |
Montana | Health Care Service Corp. |
Nebraska | UnitedHealth Group |
Nevada | UnitedHealth Group |
New Hampshire | Anthem Inc. |
New Jersey | Cigna Corp. |
New Mexico | Presbyterian Healthcare Services |
New York | UnitedHealth Group |
North Carolina | Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina |
North Dakota | Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota |
Ohio | Anthem Inc. |
Oklahoma | Health Care Service Corp. |
Oregon | PacificSource |
Pennsylvania | UPMC Health Plan |
Rhode Island | Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island |
South Carolina | Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina |
South Dakota | Wellmark Inc. |
Tennessee | Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee |
Texas | Health Care Service Corp. |
Utah | Intermountain Healthcare |
Vermont | Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont |
Virginia | Anthem Inc. |
Washington | Molina Healthcare Inc. |
West Virginia | CVS Health |
Wisconsin | Anthem Inc. |
Wyoming | Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming |
Health insurance company rankings by revenue
Based on our analysis, UnitedHealthcare is the largest health insurance company by revenue, with total revenue topping $286 billion for 2021. This makes the insurer the largest company by membership, market share, and revenue. Anthem is the second-largest health care company in all three categories.
Health insurance companies create revenue through premiums, policy volume, the services they sell, and the number of businesses they operate in.
Rank
|
Company
|
Revenue
|
---|---|---|
1 | UnitedHealth Group | $286 billion |
2 | Anthem | $138 billion |
3 | Centene | $126 billion |
4 | Kaiser Permanente | $89 billion |
5 | Humana | $83 billion |
6 | CVS Health | $61 billion |
7 | HCSC | $47 billion |
8 | Molina Healthcare | $20 billion |