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(Reuters) – Anthem Inc (ANTM.N) reported quarterly profit that beat Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, helped by its commercial insurance business and the company raised its full-year earnings earnings forecast.
The office building of health insurer Anthem in Los Angeles, California February 5, 2015. REUTERS / Gus Ruelas
The insurer's expense expense ratio – an insurer's spending on claims against the premiums it earns – narrowly missed the consensus estimate of 84.7 percent by EverChange ISI brokerage.
However, the ratio improved to 84.8 percent in the quarter from 87 percent in the year-ago period.
Anthem said 84.2 percent, 84.2 percent.
Evercore analyst Michael Newshel said in the news that it is a small business in the world.
Anthem's rivals Aetna IncAET.N) and Cigna Corp (CI.N) have separately signed up with the benefit managers.
However, Anthem has decided to take its pharmacy benefits in-house business in 2020, when it will start managing billions of dollars of patient prescriptions in a bid to cut costs.
In the third quarter, total membership fell by 753,000 members from 40.3 million members in the year-old period, as the company continues its success.
However, membership in its Medicare business, which caters to the elderly and people with disabilities, rose nearly 18 percent to 1.77 million from a year earlier, boosted by healthSun's Anthem's acquisitions of health insurers and America's 1st Choice.
Anthem said it will be expected to be more than $ 15.60 per share, up from the prior forecast of $ 15.40 per share.
Net income rose to $ 960 million, or $ 3.62 per share, in the third quarter ended September 30. Excluding items, the company earned $ 3.81 per share, beating the average analyst's estimate of $ 3.70 per share, according to Refinitiv data.
Total revenue rose 3.7 percent to $ 23.25 billion, beating the analyst average estimate of $ 22.94 billion.
Reporting by Aakash Jagadeesh Babu and Tamara Mathias in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur
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