A.M. Best Affirms Ratings of Highmark Inc.; Revises Highmark Casualty's Outlook to Stable.OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR (Free System Resource) In Windows 3.x, the amount of unused memory in various 64K blocks reserved for managing current applications. Every open window takes some space in this area. See Windows memory limitation. ), the issuer credit rating (ICR (Intelligent Character Recognition or Image Character Recognition) The machine recognition of hand-printed characters as well as machine printing that is difficult to recognize. ) and the senior debt rating of Highmark Inc. (Highmark) (Pittsburgh, PA). A.M. Best has also affirmed the FSRs and assigned ICRs to Highmark's 12 key interactively rated subsidiaries. The outlook for these ratings is stable. Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the FSR of A- (Excellent) and assigned an ICR of "a-" to Highmark Casualty Insurance Company (HCIC HCIC Hurricane Contracting Information Center HCIC Hawaii Captive Insurance Council ) (Pittsburgh, PA). The outlook for the FSR has been revised to stable from negative, while the ICR has been assigned a stable outlook. (Please see below for a detailed listing of the companies and ratings.) Highmark continues to move forward with its successful business development strategy. The company provides a broad range of health care services, including medical, dental, medical stop-loss, reinsurance The contract made between an insurance company and a third party to protect the insurance company from losses. The contract provides for the third party to pay for the loss sustained by the insurance company when the company makes a payment on the original contract. and workers' compensation workers' compensation, payment by employers for some part of the cost of injuries, or in some cases of occupational diseases, received by employees in the course of their work. , adding diversity through various subsidiaries, affiliations and cooperative arrangements. Highmark's operating performance has rebounded well over the past three years. Underwriting profitability continues to grow, while a combination of fixed and realized investment income augment overall operating performance. However, the organization continues to encounter a very competitive operating environment In computing, an operating environment is the environment in which users run programs, whether in a command line interface, such as in MS-DOS or the Unix shell, or in a graphical user interface, such as in the Macintosh operating system. as it strives to maintain both regional and national platforms. Although there are no significant obstacles to current business development objectives, Highmark is exposed to heightened regulatory risks as a result of a highly politicized business environment in Pennsylvania and its imposed ceiling on risk-based capital. Furthermore, the long-term impact may prevent Highmark from being as opportunistic as other national competitors. Cash flows and debt service coverage remain adequate at this time. The repayment of borrowed money over the past year improved leverage and coverage ratios and helped to support the affirmation of Highmark's debt rating. The FSR of A (Excellent) and the ICR of "a" have been affirmed for Highmark Inc. The FSRs of A (Excellent) have been affirmed and the ICRs of "a" have been assigned to the following subsidiaries of Highmark Inc.: * Keystone Health Plan West, Inc. * Highmark West Virginia West Virginia, E central state of the United States. It is bordered by Pennsylvania and Maryland (N), Virginia (E and S), and Kentucky and, across the Ohio R., Ohio (W). Facts and Figures Area, 24,181 sq mi (62,629 sq km). Pop. Inc. d.b.a. Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield Blue Shield A US not-for-profit health care insurer that is a reimbursement intermediary for physicians. Cf Blue Cross. The FSRs of A- (Excellent) have been affirmed and the ICRs of "a-" have been assigned to the following subsidiaries of Highmark Inc.: * HM Life Insurance Company * HM Life Insurance Company of New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of * United Concordia Companies, Inc. * United Concordia Life and Health Insurance Company * United Concordia Insurance Company * United Concordia Insurance Company of New York * United Concordia Dental Plans of California, Inc. * United Concordia Dental Plans of Pennsylvania, Inc. * United Concordia Dental Plans, Inc. The FSR of A- (Excellent) has been affirmed and the ICR of "a-" has been assigned, and the outlook has been revised to stable from negative for Highmark Casualty Insurance Company. The following debt rating has been affirmed: Highmark Inc.-- --"a-" on $375 million 6.8% senior unsecured notes, due 2013 Founded in 1899, A.M. Best Company is a full-service credit rating organization dedicated to serving the financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. industries, including the banking and insurance sectors. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. |
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