Owing to a steady fall in enrollments, Health Net - the leading publicly-traded managed healthcare company in the US – recently posted a fourth-quarter loss of $45.2 million; as compared to the same quarter year-before net income figures of $35.5 million.

However, according to Thomson Reuters, if Health Net’s charges pertaining to the December 11 sale of its Northeast business are excluded, the company managed to beat Wall Street expectations of 67 cents per share profit; and reported a profit of 69 cents per share.

The quarterly revenue figures of the company dropped from $3.9 billion to $3.8 billion, largely due to a plunge in membership amid growing unemployment.

While the Health Net membership fell to 3 million; year-on-year commercial enrollment numbers tumbled 10 percent at 1.4 million. Nonetheless, enrollment for Medicare Advantage rose 2.3 percent, while that for Medicare Part D went up 5.5 percent during the quarter.

The company’s medical-care ratio, or the percentage of premiums used for covering medical costs, increased to 85.8 percent from the earlier year figures of 85.3 percent.

Commenting on the results, Jay Gellert, President and CEO of Health Net, said: “We are pleased with our fourth quarter and full-year 2009 results. Also, as expected, our Medicare Advantage and Part D businesses returned to a solid level of performance after a difficult 2008.”