The biggest insurer in the U.S. improved its financial outlook for the year after updating plans to stop offering most of its Obamacare plans next year.
UnitedHealth announced Tuesday that it adjusted its 2016 profit outlook to about $7.45 per share, up from a range of $7.25-$7.40 a share. The company posted third-quarter revenue of $46.3 billion, a 12 percent increase from the third quarter of 2015.
The earnings announcement comes as UnitedHealth aims to put its big losses from Obamacare in the past. The company previously announced it would leave most of the 34 states in which it offers plans in 2017.
The insurer has said it expected to lose about $600 million this year due to its business in the exchanges.
UnitedHealth was one of the major insurers to defect from the exchanges in 2017. Aetna plans to leave about 70 percent of its participation in exchanges, and Humana will leave four of the 15 states it offers plans in.
UnitedHealth enrollment in the exchanges at the end of the quarter was 770,000.
The insurer did give some good news in that it doesn’t have as many people seeking coverage through special enrollment periods, which enable people to sign up for Obamacare year-round.
Obamacare included many special enrollment periods when it started in 2014 for people who lost their coverage due to circumstances such as a job layoff or divorce.
UnitedHealth told reporters on an earnings call that the percentage of its customers who enrolled during the special periods had dropped to the mid-teens from about 20 percent.
