The health insurer Humana, which made big investments in its Medicare business, now says its … [+]
Humana, which made big investments last year in its Medicare business, now says its individual enrollment in the popular Advantage plans would jump by “at least 775,000” for 2023.
Such growth, which is a key driver for Humana, means Medicare Advantage membership will see 17% growth over its 2022 ending membership and be “meaningfully higher than industry growth,” the company said Wednesday.
Humana’s new projection for even better-than-expected 2023 growth comes a year after the health insurer said it would spend $1 billion to “fund growth and investment” in its Medicare Advantage business following a 2022 disclosure the health insurer would add fewer seniors to such plans than expected.
Medicare Advantage plans, which are a large share of Humana’s business, contract with the federal government to provide extra benefits and services to seniors, such as disease management and nurse help hotlines with some also offering vision, dental care and wellness programs.
Humana’s individual Medicare Advantage enrollment was 5.15 million at the end of the first quarter, which was up 13% from 4.5 million in the year-ago period. In the first quarter, Humana profits rose 33% to $1.24 billion from $930 million in the year-ago period. Total revenues increased more than 11% to $26.7 billion.
Aside from robust growth in Medicare Advantage enrollment, Humana also benefitted from lower expenses from lower “inpatient utilization” from Covid-19 patients covered by the company’s health plans.
“We’ve had a strong start to the year, with our outperformance underpinned by strong membership growth and favorable inpatient utilization trends in our individual Medicare Advantage business,” Humana chief executive Bruce Broussard said. “The strength of our results enabled us to raise our full year 2023 Adjusted EPS by $0.25 to at least $28.25.”