Humana Inc., the second-largest provider of Medicare drug benefits, said its profit more than tripled on higher prescription-plan membership.Third-quarter net income increased to $159.2 million, from $46.8 million. The company expanded its share of the government's Medicare health plan for the elderly and disabled by offering the lowest prices for prescription benefits and promoting its managed-care plans. In the quarter, membership in Humana's Medicare managed care plans almost doubled from a year earlier. Humana will add as many as 200,000 members in 2007, a jump of about 20 percent.

See Bloomberg.com story, Humana Profit More Than Triples on Medicare Plans