Third quarter profit for Indianapolis-based Anthem's fiscal year 2016 dropped 5.7 percent from the same period last year to a total of $617.8 million.
Despite the health insurer's decreased profit, Anthem reported a 7.5 percent increase in total revenue from the same period in FY 2015 to a total of $21.4 billion.
However, Anthem faced a noticeable increase in its benefit expenses, spending $16.9 billion on Q3 benefit payouts, up 9.4 percent from the same period in FY 2015. Anthem said the hike was driven by poor medical cost experience its Medicaid business, notably in Iowa, which exceeded annual premium rate adjustments and higher membership.
The insurer reported total medical enrollment of 39.9 million policyholders for Q3 ending Sept. 30. The total reflects a 3.1 percent increase from its 38.7 million members in the same period in FY 2015.
"The strong membership growth across the majority of our lines of businesses this year is further testament to the value proposition we bring to the marketplace," Joseph Swedish, president and CEO of Anthem, said in a prepared statement.
The company reported adjusted net income per diluted share of $2.45, a 10.3 percent decrease from its Q3 FY 2015 adjusted net income per diluted share of $2.73.
Year-to-date, Anthem reported a net income of $2.1 billion. The company updated its full-year adjusted net income per diluted share to $10.80.
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