Aetna reported 911,000 ObamaCare exchange members as of March 31, down more than 4% from over 950,000 at the same time a year ago.
The news is somewhat of a surprise after Anthem said it saw a modest increase in customers largely thanks to nonprofit co-ops going out of business in some of its 14 markets like New York and Colorado.
Anthem ObamaCare enrollment rose 8.6% to 975,000, from 898,000 a year ago.
Centene, a Medicaid insurer specialist that’s rapidly expanding its ObamaCare exchange reach with low premium, high deductible plans, recently reported a 55% enrollment spike to 683,000. UnitedHealth had 795,000 exchange customers at the end of Q1, but has said it will exit all but a “handful” of states in 2017.
Total exchange sign-ups rose 8.5% to 12.7 million, from 11.7 million a year ago, but it’s not yet clear how many people actually paid. Last year, 1.5 million had dropped out by the end of March.
Reports from six states show that ObamaCare enrollment has shrunk about 14% from the number reported in February, but it’s unclear if that trend will hold.
Aetna management expressed optimism that its exchange business will break even in 2016, though it’s still getting a feel for the medical costs of this year’s members, given the relatively large amount of customer churn from year to year.
Overall, Aetna’s ObamaCare compliant enrollment, including off-exchange customers, fell to 1.2 million from 1.275 million a year ago.
Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini said he sees the exchange business as a good investment for the company, despite modest losses so far, provided that Congress and the next president are able to set politics aside and modify the program, as they do for Medicare and Medicaid on a pretty regular basis.
Aetna shares rose modestly on the stock market today on stronger than expected Q1 results.
Date: April 28, 2016