Health insurer Anthem said Wednesday that its Obamacare business was nearly breaking even after it raised the cost of premiums this year and scaled back where it sold plans.
Anthem has about 1.7 million customers on the individual market, about 1.4 million of which are compliant with Obamacare, which means they have a range of coverage and protection for pre-existing illnesses. Of these, about 900,000 customers have plans on the exchanges. For 2017, Anthem had already declined its participation by about half of its offerings in 2016.
Overall net income in the third quarter for Anthem was $617.8 million, or $2.30 per share.
Anthem President and CEO Joseph Swedish said that in 2018, the company will only participate “in regions where it is confident that its business participation is predictable.” As a result, he estimated that membership on Obamacare plans will decline by about 70 percent for the company.
Swedish said that the company had decided to pull back because of the uncertainty ahead about what would happen to Obamacare. In particular, he cited insurer payments known as cost-sharing reduction subsidies, which President Trump said for months he was considering ending and then did so earlier this month.
“Unfortunately, marketplace instability created a variety of uncertainties, including on CSR funding,” Swedish said. “If uncertainty is reduced we would have increased confidence to re-enter in 2019.”
Swedish added that Anthem expected to be profitable on the exchanges in 2018.
