New business from the Affordable Care Act, which includes an expanded Medicaid program and enhancements to the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly, means robust growth ahead, insurers are telling Wall Street as they report their fourth-quarter and full year 2013 earnings.
“The revenue growth opportunities in front of us may be unprecedented in the history of managed care and we believe our diversified portfolio positions us to capture our fair share and grow operating revenues at double-digit rates,” Mark Bertolini, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Aetna said earlier this week as the company reported fourth-quarter profits nearly double the year earlier period.
“These opportunities include: private exchanges, the potential movement of commercial membership from self-insured to fully insured products; Medicare Advantage growth, as 11,000 baby boomers age into the Medicare program on a daily basis; dual eligibles growth, as up to $300 billion in annual spend migrates to managed care; public exchange growth, which could grow to 25 million members by 2020; and Medicaid expansion, as 15 million additional people become eligible for the program under the ACA.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2014/02/08/obamacare-part-of-unprecedented-bounty-for-insurers-so-far/