Some major HMOs bleeding red ink; rates may rise.(Florida-based health maintenance organizations suffer from financial losses for the first quarter of 1999)

TALLAHASSEE - Despite adding new customers at a hectic pace, new first-quarter earnings reports confirm that the state's 35 health-maintenance organizations continue to suffer from sagging bottom lines.

"It doesn't look good," said Peter Young, owner of Health Care Strategies, a Fort Myers consulting firm. "At some point, consumers have to be very concerned about the financial viability of their insurer."

They also may have to begin worrying about rising health-care premiums, says Bob Taylor, an independent insurance agent in Ocala.

"The easy savings already have been wrung out of the system," he said, so insurers probably will begin requesting rate …