Aetna, Anthem Say Individual Commercial Business Is On Track--Update
21 November 2015 - 5:23AM
Dow Jones News
By Nathan Becker
Health insurers Aetna Inc. and Anthem Inc. on Friday said their
individual commercial businesses have performed within expectations
lately, a day after UnitedHealth Group Inc. said it was considering
exiting the Affordable Care Act's exchanges.
The statements could be a sign that big problems with business
on government exchanges aren't widespread across insurers. On
Thursday, UnitedHealth, the biggest health insurer in the U.S.,
said it has suffered deep losses on its exchange-related
business.
That announcement stoked worries about the future of the health
marketplaces that are at the center of the Obama administration's
health law.
Aetna and Anthem also backed their profit outlooks for the year
on Friday after UnitedHealth cut its view Thursday.
Still, the companies' exchange-related business isn't without
troubles--Aetna said on an earnings call earlier this month that
individual business for its public-exchange and consumer efforts
remained challenging. It plans to participate on individual
exchanges in 15 states next year, down from 17 states in 2015.
Chief Executive Mark Bertolini at the time said the 15 states
made up "a footprint that we continue to believe can drive net
membership growth."
Anthem said in October that its exchange membership declined in
the latest quarter.
Anthem Chief Executive Joseph Swedish said the company "remains
committed to enhancing access to high quality, affordable
healthcare for all of our members inside and outside of the
insurance exchanges and continuing our dialogue with policymakers
and regulators regarding how we can improve the stability of the
individual market."
UnitedHealth operated on individual exchanges in 23 states this
year. The company has locked in its exchange offerings for 2016,
but it is pulling back on marketing them during the current
open-enrollment period to limit membership and considering exiting
them in 2017.
Anthem and Aetna both have big merger deals on the table to be
reviewed by the government--Anthem has an agreement in place to buy
Cigna Corp., while Aetna Inc. has an agreement to buy Humana Inc.
Those moves come as the biggest insurers seek cost efficiency and
scale as the health-care landscape changes because of the
Affordable Care Act and other factors.
Write to Nathan Becker at nathan.becker@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 20, 2015 13:08 ET (18:08 GMT)
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