2013 insurance data notes Group Health as market leader in health

Each year, OIC releases a report that contains financial and market information about companies that sell insurance to Washington consumers. We are required by state law to publish the information, which we collect from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. 

We collect information about the companies’ financial statements—assets, liabilities, income—a summary of their loss ratios and an accounting of how much money they charge consumers, which is called a premium. We also rank the top companies in Washington by market share, which is the number of policies they sell in comparison to the other companies.

While there is quite a lot of dry financial information in the report, there are some interesting facts about the state’s insurance market.

First, here’s some background:

In 2013, we regulated nearly 2,300 insurance companies and more than 140,000 insurance agents and brokers. Our job is to make sure they follow state insurance laws, which are set up to protect consumers. Why do we protect consumers? Because Washington consumers paid insurance companies $34 billion in 2013 to cover losses they may incur on their homes, cars, valuables and other possessions and to pay for their medical expenses.

Many of the statistics are organized by lines of business, which essentially means the type of insurance they sell. The top three health insurance groups by market share are:

• Group Health Cooperative Group, with 20 percent of the market and $3.3 billion in written premiums.
• Cambia Health Solutions, Inc., which includes Regence Blue Shield, with 16 percent of the market and $2.6 billion in written premiums. 
• Premera Blue Cross Group, with 15 percent of the market and $2.5 billion in written premiums.

The top five property and casualty groups—they write policies to cover your home, auto, RV, boat, etc.—are:

• Liberty Mutual Group, with 11.4 percent of the market and just over $1 billion in written premiums.
• State Farm Group, with 10.8 percent of the market and over $980 million in written premiums.
• Farmers Insurance Group, with 7.6 percent of the market and over $691 million in written premiums.
• Allstate Insurance Group, with 7 percent of the market and over $635 million in written premiums.
• United Service Automobile Association Group, with 5 percent of the market and over $454 million in written premium.

We also have a list of all the insurance companies that have headquarters in Washington state, which we call domestic insurance companies, with an overview of their earnings, market share and enrollment numbers. The top three domestic health insurers are:

• Group Health Cooperative, with 13.8 percent of the market and $2.2 billion in written premiums.
• Regence BlueShield, with 13.5 percent of the market and over $2.1 billion in written premiums.
• Premera Blue Cross, with 12.5 percent of the market and over $2 billion in written premiums.

The top three domestic property and casualty insurers are:

• Farmers Insurance with 4.5 percent of the market and over $412 million in written premiums.
• Pemco with 3.8 percent of the market and over $345 million in written premiums.
• Mutual of Enumclaw with 1.9 percent of the market and over $177 million in written premiums.

View the 2013 annual report on our website.