Insurers cite portfolio results

Wall Street's meltdown is the top concern of the state's healthcare insurers, based on their third-quarter financial reports.

Each of the three major healthcare insurers cited the performance of their investment portfolios as an important factor in their results.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the largest insurer with about 3 million members, said net income for the third quarter dropped by 48 percent compared with the same quarter last year, to $57.6 million, in large part because of a decline in investment income from $27.9 million to $3 million.

Operating income - the amount the company earned from paying health claims - also declined sharply, from $94.5 million to $55.5 million.

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care said it posted net income, from both operations and investments, of $23.8 million, up from $20.4 million in last year's third quarter.

The company's chief financial officer said Harvard Pilgrim has a "conservative investment portfolio comprised almost exclusively of high-quality fixed-income securities."

Tufts Health Plan reported net income of $17.3 million in the third quarter, compared with $41 million in the year-ago period. The insurer said the reduced income reflected "a more competitive environment."

Jeffrey Krasner can be reached at krasner@globe.com.