Aetna and Anthem sought to reassure investors that their Obamacare businesses had not worsened after UnitedHealth Group warned of mounting losses in that sector. Aetna and Anthem said their individual insurance businesses had performed in line with projections through October. Both backed their earnings forecasts for 2015. The announcements came after UnitedHealth cut its earnings forecast.
Leerink Partners analyst Ana Gupte said Aetna's statement showed the company had already factored in the individual business' challenges to its forecasts. Aetna has about 815,000 members in plans on the exchanges.
Anthem remains committed to the exchanges, Chief Executive Officer Joseph Swedish said in a statement. Anthem said last month that 2016 would be a challenging year on the exchanges, where it has about 824,000 customers, and that the business would drag on profit.
The earnings affirmations echo that of Centene Corp and Molina Healthcare. The small health insurers, which focus on Medicaid, also said its exchange business was performing in line with its expectations. Molina CEO J. Mario Molina said that Molina was targeting low-income people, similar to its Medicaid patients, and that it was not having the same problems as UnitedHealth.
Kaiser Permanente, a hospital and insurer system, also said that it was "strongly committed" to the exchanges.