Humana Forecasts Bigger Medicare Advantage Growth Of 825,000 Members

The health insurer Humana, which last year made big investments in its Medicare business, now says ... [+] its individual enrollment in the popular Advantage plans would “grow by approximately 825,000 members in 2023.," the company said Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. In this photo is a Humana office in Louisville, Kentucky, US, on Monday, July 31, 2023. Photographer: Jon Cherry/Bloomberg

The health insurer Humana, which made big investments in its Medicare business, now says its individual enrollment in the popular Advantage plans would “grow by approximately 825,000 members in 2023.”

Such growth, which is a key driver for Humana, means Medicare Advantage membership will see 18% growth over its 2022 ending membership and be ahead of an earlier forecast of “at least 775,000 members.”

Humana’s new projection for even better-than-expected 2023 growth released Wednesday with the company’s second quarter earnings report comes a year after the health insurer said it would spend $1 billion to “fund growth and investment” in its Medicare Advantage business following a 2022 disclosure the health insurer would add fewer seniors to such plans than expected.

Medicare Advantage plans, which are a large share of Humana’s business, contract with the federal government to provide extra benefits and services to seniors, such as disease management and nurse help hotlines with some also offering vision, dental care and wellness programs.

"The strength of Humana’s fundamentals continues to be shown in our results, including delivering second quarter Adjusted EPS of $8.94 and affirmation of our full year 2023 Adjusted EPS guidance of 'at least $28.25',” Humana chief executive Bruce Broussard said in the company’s earnings release. "The strong growth of our individual Medicare Advantage business, now anticipated to grow by approximately 825,000 members in 2023 and reflecting an 18 percent growth rate, gives us further confidence in our ability to deliver strong earnings growth in the future, while continuing to advance our strategy including scaling our CenterWell capabilities in primary care, home health, and pharmacy.”

Humana’s individual Medicare Advantage enrollment was 5.26 million at the end of the second quarter, which was up 15.7% from 4.55 million in the year-ago period. In the second quarter, Humana profits rose 37.8% to $959 million from $696 million in the year-ago period. Total revenues increased more than 13% to $26.7 billion.