CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- North Carolina's largest health insurer says its profits slid for a second year as the recession compressed membership growth and medical costs rose.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina said Monday its 2009 profit was $107.3 million, or 2.1 percent, of its revenues of $5.2 billion. The profit was 42 percent less than 2008 profits of $186.4 million. Net income was $209.1 million in 2007.
Blue Cross said its 2009 profit margin was down from 3.6 percent in 2008 and below the company's target range of 3.5 to 4.5 percent.
Blue Cross, with 3.7 million customers in North Carolina, is a unique in North Carolina as a not-for-profit private corporation that pays taxes but benefited from tax-preferred status for decades until the 1980s.
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