Cigna Corporation (NYSE:CI) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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And we expect at least 250,000 net new customers generated by core growth across our U.S. Commercial portfolio. So if you take those three components together, they represent about half of our expected full year net growth of 1.2 million plus customers. And then the balance of the 2023 customer growth, you can think of as the net effect of some moving pieces, including the larger client relationship expansion that David mentioned in his prepared remarks. I mean we have good line of sight into this 1.2 million plus to David’s point, we are not banking on any meaningful amount of volume for Medicaid redeterminations. As it relates to the morbidity and/or risk pool of the IFP business or individual business that we’re adding, our 2023 customer growth outlook reflects a combination of a few things being industry growth our own new market entry as well as competitors exiting certain geographies that we participate in.

As you think about where our margin profile stands, in 2022, the margins on this book are below our long-term goal. Our long-term goal is to remind you is 4% to 6%. We took a step forward in ’22 from where we were in ’21, given that ’21 was a depressed margin year. But we’re still below our long-term goal. And for purposes of ’23, we continue to expect the margins on this book will run below our 4% to 6% long-term goal in our Cigna Healthcare income and MCR guidance reflects this. Just given the substantial amount of new customers we’ve added, we thought it was prudent to assume margins will be below our long-term target for this calendar year. But this is a book of business that does represent a source of future embedded earnings power that will help to contribute toward the long-term growth in the Cigna Healthcare segment income

Operator: Our next question comes from Mr. Scott Fidel with Stephens.

Scott Fidel : I guess you guys get the first crack to comment on the preliminary 2024 MA rates and just interested in your initial observations on those. Obviously, we sell the final rates ahead and whether that influences your thoughts on your 10% to 15% long-term Medicare Advantage enrollment growth target at all, max?

David Cordani : Good morning, Scott. Clearly, the initial or preliminary rate letter came out. But before I comment on that, just stepping back for a moment, it’s clear that Medicare Advantage has represented and continues to represent a significant both market opportunity as well as a growth opportunity for the U.S. today serving about 30 million seniors continued growth and seniors reinforce the value, the clinical quality and the service quality they receive by continuing to renew and/or expand relationships in MA. The initial rate letter that came out does have lower or somewhat anemic revenue, we’ll await the final rate letter that comes forward relative to that. Having said that, I think it’s a little bit early to presuppose what 2024 growth outlook may look like because you compete on a relative basis.

Having said that, this will create, if it stays in the range of what the rate letter looks like. It will create some revenue dislocation. So the sophistication of benefit management that’s going to be necessary market by market. The leverage of value-based care relationships, which, as I noted earlier, about 75% of our MA lives are in a value-based care relationship will all come into play. I reinforce the fact that the 10% to 15% is our objective to have 10% to 15% customer growth over time on average. We’re stepping into this year with a very good customer growth outlook already that we feel good about. And as a final note, I would remind you that while an attractive long-term growth opportunity for us, today, this represents or MA represents less than 5% of the enterprise portfolio.

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