(Bloomberg) Humana said it expects new Obamacare customers to be sicker and costlier than anticipated, after the U.S. governments decision to let healthier people keep their existing plans.
Enrollees through the Affordable Care Acts insurance exchanges will be more adverse than previously expected, Humana said in a regulatory filing Thursday. While affirming its 2014 profit forecast, the Louisville, Ky.-based health insurer said it was evaluating expectations for the new year.
Facing a wave of policy cancellations triggered by the higher standards of the ACA, President Barack Obama said in November he would let people keep their existing health plans for an extra year. Analysts and insurers said the move might upset the financial stability of the exchanges by allowing younger, healthier customers to opt out of Obamacare.
Humana was already assuming the exchange business would be unprofitable, Carl McDonald, a Citigroup analyst, said in a note to clients Friday. It now appears Humana believes it could lose even more money because the mix of exchange enrollment is less favorable than anticipated.
Humanas exchange offerings lean toward pricier plans with more generous coverage, so its unclear what the companys warnings say for the rest of the system, McDonald said.
Its worth asking the question of whether Humana believes the entire exchange risk pool is worse than anticipated, McDonald wrote, or whether the companys own mix of products is partly to blame.
