Cigna Corp. (NYSE:CI) has posted higher health insurance revenue and operating income, but the increase was due mainly to the acquisition of HealthSpring, a Medicare Advantage player.
Cigna, Bloomfield, Conn., is reporting $371 million in net income for the first quarter on $6.8 billion in revenue, compared with $413 million in net income on $5.4 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2011.
At the health care unit, premium and fee revenue increased to $4.5 billion, from $3.3 billion.
The company ended the quarter providing or administering coverage for about 13 million people, up from 11 million people a year earlier.
Commercial plan enrollment increased to 12 million, from 11 million.
Other health insurers have avoided saying much about how they expect the new federal minimum medical loss ratio (MLR) rules to affect their operations, and Cigna has followed suit.
Cigna disability unit premiums and fees increased 8%, to $339 million. Disability unit earnings fell to $65 million, from $82 million. Earnings were off partly because the unit benefited from a favorable reserve adjustment that was made in the first quarter of 2011.
International segment revenue increased 24%, to $900 million.
