Molina premium revenue down in Q3 but beats company outlook

Government insurer Molina Healthcare announced that it generated $4.1 billion in the third quarter of 2019, a nearly 6% decline from the same period of 2018 but in line with company expectations.

Molina added that the first nine months of 2019 had premium revenue decline by 8.3% to $12.1 billion compared to $13.2 billion over the same period in 2018. Overall, the company earned $175 million in net income for the quarter compared to $197 million in the third quarter of 2018.

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The premium declines announced Thursday were attributed to the loss of Medicaid membership in New Mexico and Florida and were in line with company expectations, the company said in a release Thursday.

Because the declines were within expectations, Molina raised its full-year 2019 earnings guidance to $11.30 to $11.55 per share, up from $11.20 to $11.50.

“We are pleased with our performance this quarter as we sustained our margin profile, produced significant excess capital, and increased our full-year 2019 guidance,” said Joe Zubretsky, president and CEO of Molina, in a statement. “We have accomplished this in the backdrop of commencing our pivot to growth.”

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Molina has been acquiring new assets to expand its Medicaid business in recent months to offset losses in other states. Earlier this month, the company bought the Medicaid business from New York-based YourCare Health Plan for $40 million.