Medicaid MCOs Ponder Rates, COVID Unknowns for 2021
As select publicly traded insurers highlighted how increased Medicaid membership, rising yet still-below-normal levels of utilization, COVID-related costs and rate adjustments affected their third-quarter 2020 earnings, they appeared to approach the remainder of 2020 and full-year 2021 with equal parts caution and optimism.
Excluding one-time non-operating items such as its exit from Puerto Rico, Molina Healthcare Inc. on Oct. 29 reported adjusted earnings per share of $3.36 for the third quarter of 2020, compared with adjusted EPS of $2.83 for the third quarter of 2019. Molina’s overall membership grew sequentially during the quarter by 13%, or 478,000 members — of which approximately 473,000 were Medicaid enrollees — while premium revenue rose 17% from the prior quarter to $4.8 billion. Those results reflect Passport Health Plan’s membership and revenue, which Molina assumed in Kentucky on Sept. 1.