Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and its family of companies (Blue Cross) today announced audited financial results for 2016. Blue Cross ended the year with a net operating loss of $322.4 million on full-year revenues of $12.1 billion, for a negative operating margin of 2.7% and a pre-tax net loss of $194.4 million. For the year, $11.1 billion of medical claim payments were incurred which represented 92 cents of every premium dollar going directly to cover health care costs. Additionally, total member enrollment grew from 2.75 million to 2.9 million members.
Individual segment losses for Blue Cross were $142 million for 2016, compared to a $265 million deficit within the segment for the previous year. While year-over-year losses decreased significantly, enrollment in Blue Cross individual plans declined by approximately the same percentage, resulting in a claims-paid to-revenue-received ratio of 108.6% for 2016. Factoring in 2016 results, Blue Cross has lost nearly $538 million on individual plans over the past three years.