Claims Payable (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Insurance [Abstract]

Components of the change in claims payable

The following table presents the components of the change in claims payable for the periods presented (dollars in thousands):

	Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2012			2011
Claims payable, beginning of period	$	573,448		$	510,675
Health benefits expense incurred during the period:
Related to current year	5,661,449			3,965,890
Related to prior years	(99,287		)	(84,520		)
Total incurred	5,562,162			3,881,370
Health benefits payments during the period:
Related to current year	4,921,383			3,461,910
Related to prior years	443,810			385,609
Total payments	5,365,193			3,847,519
Claims payable, end of period	$	770,417		$	544,526