Health insurer Anthem saw a boost in profits during the first quarter after it decided to sell fewer Obamacare plans and instead focus on Medicare Advantage.
The company’s profits increased 30 percent, to $1.3 billion, compared to the first quarter of 2017, according to its latest earnings report.
“We are pleased with our first quarter 2018 financial performance, which reflects our commitment to strong medical cost performance by effectively leveraging community based innovative and integrated clinical and value based care models across our markets,” said Gail K. Boudreaux, Anthem president and CEO, said in a statement.
In an earnings call Wednesday morning, she said the company planned to focus more in its Medicare Advantage business, which offers a private option to beneficiaries on the program who are adults 65 and older or people with disabilities. Its enrollment in these plans grew by 237,000 during the first quarter.
[Opinion: Anthem pulls the plug: No, Obamacare really is not doing well]
Executives of Anthem, a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield, decided to exit Obamacare exchanges in Georgia, Kentucky, Maine and Nevada for this year, resulting in 800,000 fewer enrollees. The company still has coverage for 755,000 people on the individual market, 500,000 of which have plans that follow Obamacare’s mandates.
Anthem has said the uncertainty about the future of Obamacare had led to its decision to leave a handful of states, as had an unbalanced risk pool.
