First-quarter net income at health insurer WellPoint dropped nearly 21 percent, from $885.2 million in 2013 to $701 million this year.
For the three months ended March 31, WellPoint reported total revenues of approximately $17.9 billion, up 1.6 percent from $17.6 billion in the first quarter of 2013. Total expenses also increased 2.7 percent, from $16.3 billion last year to $16.7 billion this year.
The insurer's SG&A expense ratio was 16.2 percent in the first quarter of this year, up from 13.4 percent in 2013. New fees related to healthcare reform, spending related to healthcare reform-driven market changes and higher administrative costs from membership growth contributed to the increase.
However, WellPoint's benefit expense ratio dropped to 82.7 percent in the first quarter of 2014, compared with 83.7 percent last year. That decline was primarily due to improvement in the insurer's Medicaid business.
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