If no health care overhaul passes Congress, health insurers may be in for a windfall — and one far larger that most Americans probably realize. According to a study by a pro-health reform group published Thursday, the nation’s largest five health insurance companies posted a 56 percent gain in 2009 profits over 2008. The insurers including Wellpoint, UnitedHealth, Cigna, Aetna and Humana, which cover the majority of Americans with insurance. The insurers’ hefty profit gains came even as 2.7 million more Americans lost their insurance coverage due to the declining economy. A lobbyist for American’s Health Insurance Plans, the trade group that represents insurers in Washington, D.C., attributed the gain in 2009 profits to a poor performance in 2008. In 2008, insurers were forced to write down their stock holdings because of the US market’s declines. Insurance companies keep a great deal of money in the markets, earning interest from the time between premiums are paid and the time when health providers are paid. ‘It is disingenuous to look at the profits at one company today compared to where it was in the depth of a recession,’ Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, […]