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Rising Costs Hurt Aetna
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Business New Haven
8/20/2001
By: BNH
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HARTFORD - Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET), the largest U.S. health insurer, posted a wider-than-expected loss as it struggles with dozens of problems stemming from a legacy of rapid expansion and underpriced insurance plans.
Hit by rising medical costs its biggest rivals have been able to overcome, the company reported an operating loss that more than doubled from a first-quarter loss.
Aetna reported an operating loss of $95.9 million, or 67cents per share, compared with operating earnings of $36.4 million, or 25 cents a share, a year earlier.
Analysts polled by research firm Thomson Financial/First Call expected Aetna to post a loss of 20 cents per share, with estimates ranging from a profit per share of 7 cents to a loss of 36 cents. The widening loss comes on the heels of the first quarter's $36.6 million loss.
The 148-year-old firm's health-care unit, which provides a range of insured and self-insured health care products and services, posted a loss before items of $35.4 million, compared with a profit of $99.2 million a year ago.
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