Elevance Health Inc. (NYSE:ELV) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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We’ve gotten into some of the bigger lower market wins for next year and we’re pleased with how the assets are resonating. And when go back and speak to national, we’ve had just an unbelievable run for the past several years. That’s not different this year, but we’ve talked many times about each one of these cycles have nuances. There are three things that I think are important to note. Number one, this cycle for us when we think about our largest employers that will be in the end of the year into next year, there was a very, very large cohort of in force business. So this was a very strong retention year for our company that’s been quite successful, which again reinforces how the assets are being resonating with some of the most discerning buyers in the country.

Secondly, our win share continues at the rate that we’ve seen, albeit on a lower pipeline and smaller case count. But then lastly, I think the notable conclusion of the notable piece that we’ve shared in the past several years, we’re continuing to see strong growth internally where employers are consolidating their benefit partners from one vendor — from multiple vendors to one. So that’s continuing with us. So all in, we feel good about our continued trajectory in the business. And as noted earlier our pricing activities continue with our forward view of trend. So we’re quite optimistic at this point. Thank you again for the question.

Gail Boudreaux: Thanks, Morgan. And again, just reiterating something that Morgan just said, I think is important is the consolidation trend where we become single source has been accelerating in the last few years and we continue to see that. That’s a notable trend this year. And I think what’s important is we’re also seeing it not just in medical coverage but beginning to consolidate with Carelon Services as well. So that’s a very positive trend for the strategy around whole health that we laid out. Thank you. Next question. I think this will be our last question.

Operator: Our final question comes from Nathan Rich from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Nathan Rich: Great. Thanks for the question. I wanted to ask on the CarelonRx margins. I think they were down sequentially from the first quarter. Could you maybe just elaborate a bit more on what drove that margin step-down? I know you had BioPlus rolling in. But do you still expect margins to be flattish for the full year? And then on biosimilars, how has the pricing of biosimilar Humira come in relative to expectations? And is that a significant swing factor to kind of in the outlook for that segment?

Peter Haytaian: Yeah, Nathan. Thanks for the question. This is Pete. Again, when we think about our operating performance in CarelonRx, I’ll just say upfront, we’re confident in our pharmacy business. And if you exclude BioPlus, we will come in at that 6% to 6.5% range. So flattish as we talked about. And as Gail mentioned in her prepared remarks, we’re continuing to invest and things like BioPlus and advanced home delivery. BioPlus, our original guidance did not include BioPlus. And so that as we talked about that, that’s had a bit of dilution. But again, outside of BioPlus, we’re very confident in coming in into the 6% to 6.5% range. As it relates to your question on Humira and biosimilars, again, as we said, we’re very excited about biosimilars coming into the marketplace and how that’s going to drive overall cost and affordability down the road.

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