Harvard Pilgrim posts $17 million loss

BOSTON — Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, whose membership dropped from 1.3 million
to 820,000 while Blue Cross membership swelled to 2.4 million, posted a loss of
$17 million for last year. But the company’s chief executive Charles D. Baker
Jr. said the HMO is targeted to break even this year. The loss compares favorably
with the $227 loss in 1999, which prompted the state to place the company in receivership.
Harvard Pilgrim reported a drop in revenue from $2.6 billion to $2 billion. Meanwhile
Tufts, with 910,000 members reported an operating gain of $26.4 million on revenue
of $2 billion and Blue Cross posted an operating gain of $79 million on revenue
of $2.7 billion.