Podcast Center
Video Center
Webcasts
Resource Center
Events
July 30, 2013 at 02:17 PM
Obamacare is already making insurance giant WellPoint feel a whole lot healthier.
WellPoint trumpeted that good news during an analyst conference call last week to discuss second-quarter results. Not only did its quarterly results beat analysts’ expectations, but newly minted CEO Joseph Swedish said the company expects a windfall of sorts from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — as much as $20 billion by 2016.
Some on Wall Street arched an eyebrow at that one. “Pretty bullish,” said one, who doubted Wellpoint’s ability to grow so far, so fast. But Swedish, though clearly labeling his projections as just that, insisted they were realistic.
Swedish based his optimism on estimates that 25 million more U.S. residents who now go without health coverage will have it by 2016. As Medicaid opens its doors to more middle- and lower-income folks, Wellpoint expects millions to secure some type of coverage through the state insurance exchanges. And Wellpoint will be offering that insurance, though its Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees, in at least 14 states.
