Missouri HMOs Rack Up Record Profits

Missouri’s Health Maintenance Organizations have recorded profits. The State Insurance Department says HMOs doing business here made almsot $168-Million, and Missouri-based HMOs made $148-Million. The profits have gone up as the HMO membership has dropped. The figures bring out the critics of HMO practices. A spokesman for the Missouri branch of the National Federation of Independent Business says it’s sobering to see the profits go up at a time when as munch as one-fifth of the small businesses in Missouri can no longer afford employees health insurance.