Aetna, Anthem Say Individual Commercial Business Is On Track--Update

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.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 20, 2015 13:08 ET (18:08 GMT)

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