That's been the case almost forever. The presumption was that larger groups spread the insurance compnay risk over more premium units (what I'm calling the basis on which insurance company charges the large group) and for which the insurance company would presumably have to pay out _less in medical claims per capita. Individual policies (presumably) didn't distribute the risk and it was expected the insurance company would have to pay out more in medical claims per capita, hence individual coverage had higher premiums. One of the many things wrong with the picture being uncovered is that they're actually paying out _less on the individual policies for which they collect _more in premiums. One contributing factor is that larger groups have much more leverage when negotiating initial policy terms and enforcing policy provisions.

It doesn't hurt to recall that before the gas crisis in the US in the late 1970s-early 1980s and the big jump in oil prices that pushed the numbers for energy companies way up, 3 of the 5 largest companies in the world were US based insurance companies (and 4 out the 6 or 7 largest were also insurance cos). If one nets all energy companies out of the current largest worldwide list, the same big US based insurance companies are still right up there.