Evernorth Performance And Life Insurance Sale Boost Cigna Profits

Cigna Thursday reported $2.8 billion in quarterly profits thanks to the sale of the company’s life benefits business, rising health plan membership and continued growth of the company’s Evernorth health services.

In July, Cigna completed the sale of its life, accident and supplemental benefits businesses to Chubb for more than $5 billion in cash. The divestiture of the businesses, which are located across a half dozen Asia-Pacific markets, will allow Cigna to focus on its U.S. healthcare businesses.

Fueled by an “after-tax special item gain” of $1.4 billion from the sale of the businesses to Chubb, third quarter net income jumped to $2.8 billion, or $8.97 per share, compared with $1.6 billion, or $4.80 per share, for third quarter of last year. Revenues, meanwhile, rose to nearly $45.3 billion compared to $44.3 billion in the year-ago period.

“We built on our momentum from the first half of 2022 with strong execution in the third quarter across our businesses and a continued focus on serving customers and clients with our differentiated health and well-being solutions,” Cigna chairman and chief executive David Cordani said. “We’re leveraging capabilities across Evernorth and Cigna Healthcare as we innovate to further improve affordability, guide patients to the most effective treatments and improve the vitality of the customers we serve.”

Cigna said its total medical customer base grew by 873,000 customers to 18 million “driven by growth in U.S. commercial fee-based client relationships, partially offset by a decrease in U.S. Government inclusive of the divestiture of the Medicaid business,” the health insurer said in its earnings report released Thursday.

Meanwhile, the portfolio of operations under Evernorth, which includes the pharmacy benefit management company Express Scripts that Cigna bought in 2018, continues to perform well. Third quarter adjusted revenues increased 6% to $35.7 billion “reflecting strong organic growth in specialty pharmacy services,” the company said.