Humana's profit more than quadrupled in the first quarter of 2017, thanks to Aetna, which paid its former merger partner a hefty breakup fee after the deal fell through earlier this year.
As expected, revenue slipped because of lower premiums from Humana's individual commercial business after exiting the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
The Louisville, Ky.-based insurer's net income soared to $1.1 billion in the three months ending March 31, up from $254 million during the same period in 2016.
Aetna and Humana called off their proposed $37 billion merger agreement after a federal judge blocked the deal, saying it would harm competition in Medicare Advantage.
Humana collected a break-up fee from Aetna of about $947 million pre-tax as part of the merger agreement.
Beyond that, Humana's revenue dipped slightly by 0.3% to $13.8 billion year over year.
The insurer's premium revenue from individual and group Medicare Advantage and Medicare supplement rose, while individual commercial premiums fell sharply.
That's because Humana significantly reduced the individual plans it sells on and off the ACA exchanges this year. It now sells on-exchange coverage in 11 states, down from 15 last year. It also pulled the plug on essentially all of its off-exchange plans.
When Humana announced its decision in July, it said it expected to collect anywhere from $750 million to $1 billion in premiums from its individual ACA plans in 2017, down almost 80% from the $3.4 billion premiums projected for 2016.
Humana insured 201,000 individual commercial members as of March 31. During the same quarter last year, the company insured 876,000 members in that business. The company announced in February that it will exit all of the exchanges in 2018.
Meanwhile, the company's group Medicare Advantage membership grew the fastest at 23.5% year over year to 431,000. Its individual Medicare Advantage membership remained essentially unchanged at 2.8 million members.
Humana ended the quarter with about 14 million members, a decrease of 2.3% over the same time a year ago.
The insurer's benefit ratio was 84.5%, compared with 84.8% a year ago.
"Our first quarter results strongly reinforce Humana's strength as an independent company,” Humana President and CEO Bruce D. Broussard said in a statement.