Cigna’s Evernorth Boosts Health Insurer Profits In Pandemic

Cigna profits jumped 14% to $1.6 billion in the third quarter as the company’s health services unit Evernorth aided growth during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cigna Thursday reported net income of $1.6 billion, or $4.80 per share in the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared to nearly $1.4 billion, or $3.78 in the year-ago period. Revenues rose 8% to $44.3 billion compared to $40.9 billion in the third quarter of last year.

Cigna chief executive David Cordani said the company’s diversified portfolio, which includes commercial and government lines of health insurance as well as healthcare services under the Evernorth umbrella are helping to grow the company.

“Our strong results from the quarter demonstrate how we are advancing our growth strategy and delivering for our customers, patients, clients, and provider partners,” Cordani said. “The balanced profile of our business, our sustained investments in innovation, and our capital flexibility position us well for continued growth the rest of this year and over the long-term.”

Evernorth, which includes the pharmacy benefit management company Cigna bought with its 2018 acquisition of Express Scripts, reported adjusted revenues up 13% to $33.6 billion “relative to third quarter 2020 driven by strong organic growth, including growth in retail network and specialty pharmacy services,” Cigna said in its earnings report.

Cigna said Evernorth “fulfilled 411 million adjusted pharmacy scripts in the third quarter, which was up 8% compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, total medical membership was up slightly to 17 million compared to 16.9 million in the year-ago period with the biggest increase coming in the U.S. government sector, which includes Cigna’s Medicare Advantage business and individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare. Such in U.S. government health plans administered by Cigna grew by 100,000 customers to 1.5 million from 1.4 million in the year-ago period.