Humana lost $862 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, but company executives hope the insurer is now covering a smaller, healthier group of Medicare Advantage plan enrollees.
"We're shedding unprofitable plans," James Rechtin, the company's chief executive officer, said during a public conference call Tuesday.
The Louisville, Kentucky-based insurer now focuses on the Medicaid, Medicaid and health care services market. It was one of the insurers that responded to changes in federal Medicare plan funding levels and benefits design rules by fleeing from some markets.
But the annual enrollment period for 2025 coverage, which lasted from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7, was stronger than observers had feared. Medicare Advantage plan enrollment fell to 5.2 million, down only 6.1% from what it was in January 2024.
Medicare Part D prescription drug plan enrollment increased 3.7%, to 2.5 million.
Humana, UnitedHealth and Elevance Health cover more than 40% of the Medicare Advantage program's estimated 35 million 2025 enrollees. Program enrollment increased to 7.8 million, from 7.7 million, at UnitedHealth and to 2.1 million, from 2 million, at Elevance.
What it means: The results released by Humana and its competitors suggest the big issuers and the enrollees may have come through the latest enrollment period reasonably well.
The earnings: Humana's net loss for the fourth quarter came on $29 billion in revenue. That compared with a net loss of $591 million on $26 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2023.
For all of 2024, the company posted $1.7 billion in net income.
The future: Rechtin said Humana is trying to improve the level of service it provides for the enrollees it did attract, to improve its coverage quality ratings and increase federal Medicare subsidy revenue.
"While we cannot fix the entire health care system on our own, we can make it easier for our patients and our members to navigate," Rechtin said. "We can make it easier to understand what our members will have to pay when they see a doctor or require a procedure."
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