Health plans lose members to layoffs

Wall Street Journal, April 23, 2009

Earnings from the nation's big health insurers show them losing members at a rapid rate, suggesting the ranks of uninsured Americans are surging during the recession. The latest evidence came from WellPoint Inc., the country's largest health insurer with nearly 35 million medical-plan members. Reporting a 1.3% drop in first-quarter net income, the insurer also said it had shed nearly 500,000 net members since the end of December.