Income taxes totaled $23.9 million in 2003, resulting in an effective tax rate of 36.0%, as compared to $17.9 million in 2002, resulting in an effective tax rate of 37.0%. The lower 2003 tax rate was due to: (i) our Washington health plan, which does not pay state income taxes, generating a greater percentage of our total earnings; and (ii) our receiving $1.6 million of California Economic Development Tax Credits (Credits) in 2003 as compared to our receiving $.4 million in 2002. Approximately $1.0 million of the 2003 Credits relate to prior years that are being recovered through amended state tax filings. The table below includes a breakdown of the total 2003 Credits, net of recovery fees paid to consultants (included in Salary, General and Administrative expenses):
We are not an obligor to or guarantor of any indebtedness of any other party. We are not a party to off-balance sheet financing arrangements except for operating leases which are disclosed in the “Commitments and
We principally operate through our health plan subsidiaries. These subsidiaries are subject to laws and regulations that limit the amount of dividends and distributions that they can pay to us without prior approval of, or notification to, state regulators. In California, our health plan may dividend, without notice to or approval of the California Department of Managed Health Care, amounts by which its tangible net equity exceeds 130% of the tangible net equity requirement. In Michigan, Utah, Washington, and New Mexico, our health plans must give thirty days advance notice and the opportunity to disapprove “extraordinary” dividends to the respective
We invest a substantial portion of our cash in the CADRE Affinity Fund and CADRE Reserve Fund (CADRE Funds), a portfolio of highly liquid money market securities. The CADRE Funds are a series of funds managed by the CADRE Institutional Investors Trust (Trust), a Delaware business trust registered as an open-end management investment fund
Effective June 1, 2004, we completed our acquisition of the Healthy Options (Medicaid) and Basic Health Plan contracts of Premera Blue Cross, adding approximately 56,000 members to the Washington HMO. We paid to Premera $18,000 for both contracts in addition to assuming an estimated $400 in medical related liabilities. Of the $18,400 cost of the acquisition, $12,700 was assigned to identifiable intangible assets (contract rights) to be amortized over seventy-two months, while $5,700 was recorded as non-deductible goodwill. We added theses members into our Washington HMO to take advantage of the operational efficiencies arising from a larger membership base.
On December 10, 2004, our California HMO, and Universal Care, Inc., a California corporation, entered into a definitive Asset Purchase Agreement to transfer Universal’s Medi-Cal and Healthy Families contracts to our California HMO. As of March 4, 2005, the proposed transfer had been approved by each of the California Department of Managed Health Care and the California Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board for a transfer effective as of June 1, 2005. The transaction would add approximately 17,000 members to our California HMO’s current membership.
At December 31, 2004 and 2003, no amounts were outstanding under the credit facility.