Health Net Reports $7.4 Million Increase in First-Quarter Earnings

Woodland Hills-based Health Net Inc. last Thursday announced that first-quarter net income in 2002 rose to $49.8 million, or 40 cents per share, from $42.4 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier, despite a drop in revenue, the Los Angeles Times reports (Los Angeles Times, 5/3). Health Net's first-quarter revenue fell to $2.47 billion from $2.48 billion a year earlier as health plan enrollment dropped 6% (Rapaport, Sacramento Bee, 5/3). Health Net officials attributed increased first-quarter earnings to the elimination of some "unprofitable markets and accounts" such as Medicare (Reuters, 5/2). Enrollment in the health insurer's small business and individual health plans increased by 20.5%, the Bee reports (Sacramento Bee, 5/3).