Anthem Says Commercial Enrollment Dip Was Less Than Expected, But More Attrition to Come

August 3

While Anthem, Inc. has seen less of an enrollment dip in its commercial business than it originally feared when the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession first took hold, the insurer’s executives said during a July 29 earnings conference call that they expect that attrition to accelerate in the coming months as some furloughs become permanent job losses.

From March 31 to June 30, Anthem saw enrollment in its commercial and specialty business line drop by 290,000. “But as you think about unemployment, that was fairly muted,” especially when it comes to Anthem’s risk-based business, President and CEO Gail Boudreaux said during the question-and-answer portion of the earnings call. She and other Anthem executives attributed that effect to the fact that many companies have thus far furloughed rather than laid off workers, thanks in part to federal stimulus funding.

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Health Plan Weekly

Leslie Small

Leslie has been working in journalism since 2009 and reporting on the health care industry since 2014. She has covered the many ups and downs of the Affordable Care Act exchanges, the failed health insurer mega-mergers, and hundreds of other storylines spanning subjects such as Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage, employer-sponsored insurance, and prescription drug coverage. As the managing editor of Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits, she writes and edits for both publications while overseeing a small team of reporters who also focus on the managed care sector. Before joining AIS Health, she was a senior editor for the e-newsletter Fierce Health Payer, and she started her career as a copy editor at multiple local newspapers. She graduated with a dual degree in journalism and political science from Penn State University.

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