NEW ENROLLMENTS BOOST ANTHEM
Medicaid customers spur membership gain, strong 2021 forecast
Anthem delivered a betterthan-expected first quarter and pushed its 2021 forecast past expectations as enrollment growth lifted the health insurer.
A 20 percent jump in membership for state and federally funded Medicaid plans that Anthem manages spurred a 3 percent overall enrollment gain compared to last year’s opening quarter.
The Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer has 43.5 million customers and is the nation’s secondlargest health insurer, trailing only UnitedHealthcare.
Anthem said Wednesday it has about 9.2 million Medicaid customers, up from 7.6 million last year.
Growth was helped by a temporary suspension during the COVID-19 pandemic of state requirements that Medicaid customers certify they are still eligithe
ble to receive the benefits.
Indianapolis-based Anthem covers people in several states, including big markets like New York and California. It also runs a pharmacy benefits management business called IngenioRx.
The insurer also booked 15 percent enrollment growth in its smaller Medicare Advantage business.
Those gains and growth from
IngenioRx helped boost company operating revenue by 9 percent, to $32.1 billion in the quarter. The figure excludes investment gains.
Wall Street had been looking for revenue of $32.97 billion.
Net income climbed 9 percent to $1.66 billion even though the company’s business took a hit from costs tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Anthem covering administration of tests and vaccinations.
But company officials also told analysts during a conference call that hospitalizations tied to COVID dropped earlier and sharper than they anticipated in the quarter.
Adjusted earnings ended up at $7.01 in the quarter that ended March 31. Analysts were expecting $6.38 per share on average.
The Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer said Wednesday that it now expects full-year adjusted earnings to come in at greater than $25.10 per share after starting 2021 with a forecast that fell well short of Wall Street projections.
Analysts expect, on average, earnings of $24.70 per share, according to FactSet.
Shares of Anthem Inc. jumped almost 3 percent to $384.84 while broader trading indexes also rose Wednesday. The stock had already climbed about 20 percent so far this year.
That’s nearly twice as high as the S&P 500’s advance over the same span.