Partners HealthCare income tumbles amid insurance losses

Operating income tumbled at Partners HealthCare Systems for the three months ended March 31 as insurance losses — stemming from a costly new hepatitis C drug and problems with the state's insurance website — eroded gains from its hospital business. The largest portion of the loss for Partners' health insurance unit, Neighborhood Health Plan, was about $6 million in payouts for the popular hepatitis C drug Solvaldi, which drug maker Gilead Sciences has priced at $1,000 a pill — about $84,000 for a typical course of treatment. The virus affects many low-income Medicaid patients who are served by Neighborhood Health.