Louisville, Ky.-based Humana today reported net income of $430 million for the first quarter of fiscal year 2015, up $62 million from the comparable period of 2014.
Health insurer Humana's total revenue was up 18.1 percent in Q1 2015, rising to $13.83 billion.
The company's financial growth is primarily attributable to the increase in premiums, with revenue generated from premiums up 19.5 percent from $11.08 billion in Q1 2014 to $13.25 billion in Q1 2015.
Additionally, the payer has seen an increase in beneficiaries. As of March 31, Humana had 14.2 million enrolled in medical plans, up from 13.1 million a year ago.
Humana's expenses were up 18.7 percent for the quarter, growing to $13.04 billion. The cost of benefits represented Humana's most significant operating expense, marked by an increase of 20.6 percent from $9.12 billion in Q1 2014 to $11.01 billion in Q1 2015.
Based on its quarter-one financials, Humana projects its operating earnings per share for the full year 2015 will be in the range of $8.50 to $9.00. The company's 2015 earnings per share estimate reflects expected strong growth and operating efficiencies in the company's Medicare offerings, year-over-year improvement in the healthcare services business, break-even results in its HumanaOne business and reduced investment spending in state-based contracts, partially offset by the tax implications of the expected increase in the nondeductible health insurance industry fee.
"Our first-quarter achievements included substantial revenue and membership growth, announcement of the launch of our population health technology business Transcend Insights, the pending sale of Concentra and the completion of our accelerated share repurchase program, as well as strong pretax income," said Bruce D. Broussard, Humana's president and CEO. "These achievements contributed meaningfully to the advancement of our integrated care delivery model with its data-driven focus on the consumer, powered by our disciplined approach to capital allocation — which, taken together, represents a sustainable competitive advantage for Humana."