Cigna saw its operating performance improve in the third quarter of fiscal year 2018, buoyed by membership gains in its commercial insurance units.
Here are four things to know from the health insurer's financial results:
1. Cigna posted total revenues of $11.5 billion for the three months ended Sept. 30, up 9 percent compared to the third quarter of 2017. Strong growth in the health insurer's global healthcare and supplemental benefits segments contributed to the increase.
2. Cigna's medical membership grew nearly 3 percent year over year to 16.3 million members in the third quarter. This equates to an increase of 363,000 customers year to date, with most of the growth coming from Cigna's commercial select, middle market and individual businesses.
3. After including expenses and nonoperating gains, Cigna ended the third quarter with net income of $772 million, up nearly 38 percent from $560 million recorded in the same period a year prior.
4. Cigna said it is on track to close is $52 billion purchase of Express Scripts by the end of this year. The health insurer's CEO David Cordani told investors during a third earnings call Nov. 1, "Over the immediate term ... our capital priorities are quite clear. We're very well positioned ... to aggressively pay down our debt levels in the first 18 to 24 months," according to Reuters.