Humana Insurance Company history

The hospitals proved so successful that Extendicare divested all of its nursing homes in 1972.

Humana experienced growth period in the years that followed, both organically and through the takeover of American Medicorp Inc. in 1978, which doubled the company’s size.

To build its medical reputation, Humana established a Centers for Excellence program in 1982 for the purpose of specialty care.

From the onset of federal policies in 1983, with private insurers following suit, the industry changed drastically.

Began to Offer Health Plans in 1984

In 1987, with founders Jones and Cherry still at the helm, Humana worked to right its insurance plans.

In October 1990 Humana announced that it had agreed to acquire Chicago-based Michael Reese Health Plan Inc. and Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center.

With its hospitals continuing to post declining profits because of industry-wide cost-containment efforts and falling admissions of full-paying patients (those not covered through government-sponsored plans), Humana decided in 1993 to stake its future on managed healthcare plans.

In 1994 Humana spent $180 million to acquire Group Health Association, a 125,000-member HMO in Washington, D.C., and CareNetwork, an HMO in Milwaukee. Thus by the end of 1995 Humana had boosted its overall plan membership to 3.8 million and its revenues to $4.7 billion.

Gregory H. Wolf--who had been senior vice-president of sales and marketing and had come to Humana from EMPHESYS, where he had been president and COO&mdashøok over as president of Humana in September 1996.

In August 1997 Humana announced it would sell its HMO in California.

In 1998, Humana and UnitedHealth Group (UNH) planned to merge in a deal worth $5.5 billion, but the move failed when UnitedHealth Group posted almost $1 billion in quarterly losses that same year.

In 2001, Humana entered into an innovative joint venture with Navigy to create an online web portal called availity.com, enabling physicians and health providers to conduct business with the two companies.

In 2005, Humana entered into a partnership with Virgin Group, offering financial incentives to those of its insured who adopted a healthy lifestyle.

On November 16, 2006, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Humana Inc. entered into a partnership with the aim of expanding on traditional private-sector approaches to population health management.