What You Need to Know
- Anthem's commercial and specialty revenue increased 8.7%, to $9.6 billion.
- The company's Medicare Advantage enrollment climbed 34%, to 1.8 million.
- Fully insured employer plan enrollment increased 1.6%, to 3.9 million.
Anthem executives are watching carefully to see whether vaccines beat COVID-19, or whether virus variants and low vaccination rates in some parts of the country help the pandemic make a comeback.
Executives talked about their new uncertainty about the pandemic Wednesday, during a conference call Anthem held with securities analysts to go over its earnings for the second quarter.
Anthem is one the largest health insurers in the United States. The Indianapolis-based company holds the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licenses for Indiana, New York and many other states.
Gail Boudreaux, Anthem’s CEO, said during the call, in response to a question about Medicare Advantage plans, that the delta variant version of COVID-19 has the company’s attention.
At the company’s Medicare Advantage business, “we have a highly vaccinated population,” Boudreaux said. But “we’re very prudent about what’s going on with the delta variant,” Boudreaux said.
Anthem’s CFO John Gallina said COVID-19 vaccination rate statistics are part of a model that company managers talk about every week.
Because of the slowing COVDI-19 vaccination rates and rise of new COVID-19 variants, Anthem is now taking a slightly more cautious view of what claims will look like in the second half of the year, Gallina said.