Hartford health insurer Aetna, which is rumored to be in merger talks with pharmacy giant CVS, said Tuesday its third quarter profits grew 39 percent, driven largely on the strength of the company’s small group and Medicare businesses.
During a morning conference call with investors Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini declined to address “speculation” and “rumors” around a potential CVS deal.
Aetna failed earlier this year in its $37 billion bid to acquire Humana.
In the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company reported net income of $838 million, or $2.52 per share, compared to $604 million, or $1.70 per share in the year-ago period.
Despite the increase, revenue declined 5 percent, to $14.9 billion from $15.8 billion in the year-ago period, due in part to a one-year suspension of health insurer fees related to the Affordable Care Act, Guertin said.
Aetna has 22.2 million medical members, about 2.2 million of them in Medicare, Bertolini and Guertin said. The company added 150,000 Medicare members so far this year and is expanding in 128 U.S. counties in coming months, an estimated 62 percent growth rate that exceeds industry standards, Bertolini said.
The focus of the company is to help members improve their health and achieve personal goals, Bertolini said. The models Aetna uses will be designed to “improve health outcomes, provide care close to home, and improve members’ understanding of social determinants of health,” he said.
Delivery of assistance through home care will also help keep people out of the emergency room, reducing healthcare costs overall, Bertolini said.
The company projects $9.75 in earnings per share for the full year of 2017 compared to a previous range of $9.45 to $9.55 earnings per share.
