Elevance Health Tuesday said third quarter net income rose to nearly $1.2 billion despite rising costs in its government subsidized health insurance plans, the company announced Oct. 21, 2025.
Elevance Health
Elevance Health Tuesday said third quarter net income rose to nearly $1.2 billion despite rising costs in its government subsidized health insurance plans.
Elevance, which is the nation’s second largest health insurer behind UnitedHealth Group’s UnitedHealthcare, is best known for its operation of Anthem brand Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in 14 states. In addition, Elevance manages Medicaid via contracts with multiple states and also sells individual coverage under the ACA known as Obamacare. The company also has a growing Carelon healthcare services business.
Like many of its rival health insurers, the company has been battling rising medical expenses from customers in its health plans. Tuesday’s results reflected costs that are still up, but largely in check with the company calling them “elevated, but expected.”
Net income rose 17.8% to $1.18 billion in the third quarter ended Sept. 30 compared to $1 billion in the year ago period. Total revenues were up 12.4% to $50.7 billion
Like other health insurance plans, Elevance is seeing higher benefits expenses, reporting that its benefit expense ratio, which is the percentage of premium revenue that goes toward medical costs, was 91.3 percent, “an increase of 180 basis points year over year, reflecting elevated, but expected, cost trend primarily in our Medicare business given pronounced seasonality in Part D (drug plan) benefits associated with changes made in the Inflation Reduction Act.” In the second quarter, the benefit expense ratio was 88.9% and in the first quarter it was 86.4%, according to earnings reports earlier this year.
“Our third quarter results were in line with expectations and reflect disciplined execution across Elevance Health,” Elevance Health chief executive officer Gail Boudreaux said in a statement accompanying the earnings report. “In a dynamic healthcare environment, we’re focused on advancing affordability and elevating the member experience through our growing value-based care partnerships and AI-enabled digital solutions that simplify access and improve outcomes. As we plan for 2026, we remain disciplined in managing what we can control – positioning our businesses for long-term, sustainable growth and value creation for all stakeholders.”
Elevance said its operating revenue was up 12 percent to $50.1 billion in the third quarter “driven by higher premium yields in our health benefits segments, recently closed acquisitions, and growth in Medicare Advantage membership, primarily offset by ongoing Medicaid membership losses due to eligibility reverifications.”
Elevance ended the third quarter with 45.4 million health plan members, which was down a little less than one percent compared to the year-ago period “driven by lower year over year BlueCard and Medicaid membership.”