As expenses amid rising cases of COVID-19 increased, leading commercial health insurance companies faced headwinds in the fourth quarter of 2020. Cigna seemed to be the lone insurer to buck the trend of falling profits among the larger players in the industry comprising Aetna, Anthem, Humana, and UnitedHealth Group.
- Fourth-quarter revenues for Aetna parent CVS Health totaled $619.6 billion, up from $66.9 billion in the same period of 2019. CVS ended the fourth quarter with a $973 million profit, down 44.2 percent from $1.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019.
- Anthem posted revenues of $31.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, up 16.1 percent from $27.4 billion in the same period a year prior. Anthem ended the fourth quarter with a $551 million profit, down 41 percent from the $934 million it reported in the last quarter of 2019.
- Cigna posted fourth-quarter revenues of $41.7 billion, up from $38.2 billion in the same quarter of 2019. Cigna ended the quarter with a $4.1 billion profit, up from $977 million reported in the last quarter of 2019.
- Humana recorded $19.1 billion in revenues in the fourth quarter of 2020, up 17 percent year over year. Humana ended the quarter with a $274 million net loss, compared to a $512 million profit in the fourth quarter of 2019.
- UnitedHealth Group still saw its revenue grow to $65.5 billion in the last quarter of 2020, up 7.5 percent from $60.9 billion in the same period the previous year, beating analysts’ projections. UnitedHealth posted a profit of $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, down about 38 percent from $3.5 billion in the same period of 2019.