Medicaid overtakes Medicare Advantage as health insurers’ bogeyman in Q2

Healthcare DIVE August 15, 2024
Rebecca Pifer

Despite challenges in Medicaid and MA, major insurers still posted large earnings in the second quarter — many helped by health services divisions.

Health insurers have invested heavily in building out their Medicare and Medicaid businesses in recent years, tempted by the prospect of healthy margins and growing membership in the government-run insurance programs.

But privately run Medicare Advantage and safety-net Medicaid plans are seeing their profitability shrink amid ongoing operational pressures, creating a sharp reversal in expected fortunes — much to health insurance executives’ chagrin.

For much of the past year, insurers bemoaned the headwinds in MA as seniors using more medical care caused spending to snowball. But in the second quarter, many payers suggested Medicaid has become a...

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