Excellus operating gain totals less than 1 percent last year

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield posted a 0.7 percent operating gain in 2012, according to the annual financial report the nonprofit health insurer filed today with the state Department of Financial Services.

Rochester–based Excellus is one of the major health insurers in Central New York. The gain translated to $44 million on revenue of $6 billion last year. Net income for the year was $106 million.

Excellus’ net income goes into the health plan’s reserves to protect members from higher claims expenses or lower revenues. Reserves currently total $1.28 billion, according to Excellus.

The health plan’s overall membership rose by about 15,000 members to 1.85 million as of Jan. 31, 2013. Membership in Medicare programs increased 13.6 percent to 126,000 members.

Excellus spent 88 percent of its premium revenue on medical benefits, it said. Its average operating margin over the past five years was 0.7 percent.

Spending on medical benefits rose 8.4 percent in 2012 as administrative expenses and operating income fell 14.7 percent, according to Excellus.

“The fact [that] our membership numbers are strong in what continues to be a challenged economy shows how competitively priced our products are,” Excellus CEO Christopher Booth said in a news release.

The report also listed pay to Excellus’ top three officers for last year. Booth earned $1.6 million, CFO Dorothy Coleman earned $826,000, and former CEO David Klein earned $3.8 million. Booth was previously chief operating officer.

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com