Mega insurers such as Anthem and Aetna tried to soothe investors after comments from rival UnitedHealth Group on Obamacare sparked a major drop in insurer stocks.
UnitedHealth on Thursday said it would lose $425 million this year due primarily to its participation in Obamacare’s marketplaces and that it may exit the exchanges.
In response to the news, the insurers reaffirmed their commitment to Obamacare’s exchanges.
Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish said the insurer wants to continue to speak with “policymakers and regulators regarding how we can improve the stability of the individual market.”
Aetna told investors at a conference earlier this month that its exchange business was unprofitable this year, but it hoped to improve margins next year.
Aetna’s management said on Friday that its Obamacare business has not changed since that conference.
Anthem said last month in an earnings call that enrollment in the exchanges did not meet expectations, which is creating losses for the company, but it expects the exchanges to stabilize in the long run.
Anthem’s stock dropped by nearly 7 percent and Aetna’s nearly 5 percent on Thursday after news of UnitedHealth’s comments broke. Anthem’s stock has since recovered to rise by 2.47 percent Friday and Aetna about 4.5 percent.
The Obama administration latched onto the commitments from the insurers, with officials distributing similar statements of support from insurers HCA Holdings and Centene and hospital and insurer Kaiser Permanente.
“This is further indication that statements from one issuer are not reflective of the marketplace’s overall strength going forward,” said Ben Wakana, spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services.
