Dive Brief:
- Humana execs expect to make money on the exchanges, but in the longer-term future, when problems with enrollment die down.
- Humana has cut its prediction on enrollees through the exchanges from 500,000 to 250,000 because of problems with the HealthCare.gov site.
- CEO Bruce Broussard told investors that his company should see returns on health exchange business by 2015, when a diverse mix of enrollees will come on board and offset its financial investment in the marketplaces.
Dive Insight:
With the catastrophic failure of HealthCare.gov, health insurers are left wondering what to believe, and Humana is no exception. It's not surprising that Humana -- as well some of its insurance industry peers -- are taking wait-and-see approach to how the exchanges are going to affect their business. However, it seems likely that Wall Street will keep pressing them to make a prediction as to how newly-insured patients are going to affect their profits. Insurers won't be able to sit this one out for long.