Dive Brief:
- Last week, Humana announced that it expects the health insurance exchange beneficiaries to bring more risk than previously expected.
- Though Humana may lose money on the initial round of health insurance exchange enrollees, it's still not clear whether they'll prove to be an adverse risk pool overall. To date, however, it appears that sicker patients dominate the initial wave of enrollments.
- Humana still expects to meet its 2014 earnings guidance of $7.25 to $7.75 per diluted common share. However, it seems that's only because the payer has done well in other areas of business, notably the Medicare Advantage program.
Dive Insight:
So far, Humana's leadership has been relatively bullish about the prospects for beneficiaries enrolled through the health insurance exchange. In an interview with Forbes, Humana CEO Bruce Broussard said that the exchanges are "probably a good thing," and said that his company will work with the industry players involved in the government to fix the "bumps" that have emerged in the ACA initial rollout. It remains to be seen, however, how long it will take before the ACA enrollees stabilize out and include some younger, healthier beneficiaries in the pool. This should be an anxious time for participating insurers.