Wall Street’s reaction was swift Wednesday after Elevance Health said that the amount of care its Medicaid members are getting is outpacing what states are paying the insurer to treat those members.
Elevance’s stock tumbled almost 6% even though the company reported earnings that beat Wall Street’s estimates, and a slightly higher operating gain in the second quarter of 2024 compared with the prior-year period. Health insurer stocks got similarly pummeled in May when a competitor’s CEO warned about the impending “disturbance” in Medicaid, the health care program that covers low-income individuals.
Over the past year, states have culled members from their Medicaid programs under a process known as redetermination. The federal government said states couldn’t kick people off the program during the Covid-19 pandemic, even if they were no longer eligible. That protection ended last year, and since then, states have been combing through their Medicaid membership and checking eligibility.
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