Reply #3: the chart on the bottom is asset size [View All]

[NewJeffCT]

which means, how much money/assets they have. That is the total amount of money they have taken in from premiums, plus any investment profits. However, a large piece of that goes to pay claims and cover expenses.

It's kind of confusing when you also consider that many health insurers also sell life insurance, or at least group life insurance, plus other types of insurance as well. Having worked at Aetna before, I know that a large part of their profit came from Group Life insurance (the kind you can buy from your employer that is offered to most employees of large corporations)and other insurance, and not from the health insurance business. Granted, I haven't worked there since 2001, so it's changed since that time.