U.S. health insurer Aetna Inc. on Friday said its business, including individual Obamacare
health plans, had performed as expected, following on earlier news that UnitedHealth Group Inc. might exit what it called an unprofitable market.Aetna said in a regulatory filing that its individual business had continued to perform in line with its projections through October. It backed its full-year 2015 operating earnings forecast of $7.45 to $7.55 per share.
The news came the day after UnitedHealth cut its earnings forecast, saying it was losing money on the Obamacare business because of low enrollment and high costs. The company said it might pull out of the state health insurance exchanges in 2017.That statement raised questions about the long-term sustainability of the key Obamacare program and drove down shares of insurers, including Aetna, and hospital companies.Biggest U.S. Heath Insurer Says It May Abandon Public Exchanges
Leerink Partners analyst Ana Gupte said Aetna's statement showed the company had already factored in challenges in the individual business to its 2015 outlook and commentary about 2016. Aetna had referred back to earlier comments when asked on Thursday about UnitedHealth's commentary.In October, Aetna had said it was not making money from the business, which sells government-subsidized plans on exchanges created under the U.S. Affordable Care Act but that profitability could improve next year. It had about 815,000 members in plans on the exchanges and 275,000 in plans sold off the exchanges.