Managed care company Cigna Corp.’s fourth-quarter net income climbed 40 percent, as it reversed last year’s enrollment slide and received a boost from lower health care use that also has helped other insurers, The Associated Press reports. Cigna’s claims headquarters is in Bloomfield.
Cigna, the fourth-largest health insurer based on enrollment, said Thursday its total medical membership climbed 4 percent to 11.4 million people in the fourth quarter, compared to the final quarter of 2009, when it fell more than 5 percent.
That helped hike premiums and fees 20 percent to $3.37 billion in health care, the Philadelphia insurer’s largest segment.
Overall, Cigna earned $461 million, or $1.69 per share, in the three months that ended Dec. 31. That’s up from $330 million, or $1.19 per share, in the last three months of 2009. Revenue grew 17 percent to $5.43 billion.
Excluding some one-time items, adjusted earnings amounted to $1.15 a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast, on average, a profit of $1 per share on $5.38 billion in revenue.
Cigna operates health care, group disability and life segments in the United States. It also sells individual insurance in several countries and operates an expatriate business that provides coverage for people living outside their home countries.
Earnings from that international business — a big growth priority for the company — climbed 46 percent to $57 million.
For 2010, Cigna earned about $1.35 billion, or $4.89 per share, on $21.25 billion in revenue. Adjusted earnings, excluding one-time items, were $4.64 per share.
