Government Healthcare Policy, Business and Technology

The Medicare Advantage program helped and hurt insurers reporting their second-quarter earnings last week.

Modern Healthcare: The Medicare Advantage program helped and hurt insurers reporting their second-quarter earnings last week.

Aetna and Humana both reported that their respective Medicare Advantage books of business were bolstered by growth in Medicare Advantage membership.

But Aetna posted lower revenue in the quarter, thanks to expected lower premiums and membership in its ACA individual and small group businesses.

The Hartford, Conn.-based insurer grew Medicare Advantage premiums due to membership gains in the quarter ended June 30. Aetna's government programs continue to make up more than half of the insurer's total revenue. Still, Medicare Advantage growth wasn't enough to keep Aetna's revenue from sliding by 2.7% to $15.5 billion compared with the year-ago period.

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