Fitch: Outlook negative for health insurers

Fitch Ratings said it revised the outlook to negative from stable for six U.S. health insurers: Aetna, Inc., Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Idaho Health Service, Inc., Cigna Corp., Coventry Health Care, Inc. and Health Care Service Corp.

The outlook remains negative for Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York, Health Net, Inc., Healthmarkets, Inc., Humana Inc., UnitedHealth Group, Inc. and Wellpoint Inc.

The outlook is now negative for all 12 health insurers rated by Fitch.

The agency said the negative outlook reflects the strong potential for national health-care reform and its possible adverse implications on each company's financial strength and creditworthiness. No bill has been finalized yet, and multiple policy schemes are possible, but most of the alternatives being debated could weaken health insurers' financial profiles in Fitch's view.

The negative outlook also reflects the high levels of uncertainty that currently exist with respect to the ability of individual insurers to adapt to a likely changing competitive and pricing environment resulting from reform, the agency added.

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