Company: ELV
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001156039-25-000010
Chunk: 36

Company: Elevance Health, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 36
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 year. CMS has explicit gain and loss margin requirements within the bids, as well as contract-specific federal MLR annual requirements. Accordingly, the costs we incur in excess of our benefit cost projections cannot be recovered in the contract year through higher premiums. Existing Medicaid contract rates are often established by the applicable state, and our actual costs may exceed those rates. Many factors, including those discussed above, have caused, and may in the future cause, actual costs to exceed those estimated and reflected in our commercial premiums and Medicare and Medicaid bids.

We participate in the Public Exchange in many of the states where we offer Medicaid health plans. The Public Exchange markets in general are highly volatile and unpredictable from year to year. We develop each state's Public Exchange market premium rates during the spring of each year for policies effective in the following calendar year. Legislation, regulation enforcement activity and judicial decisions that cause the Public Exchange to operate in a manner different than we projected in setting premium rates, including the potential expiration of enhanced PTCs at the end of 2025, could affect our results. In addition, any variation from our cost expectations regarding acuity, enrollment levels, adverse selection, or other assumptions utilized in setting premium rates, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial position, and cash flows.

Although federal and state premium and risk adjustment mechanisms could help offset health benefit costs above our projections if the assumptions we use to set our premium rates are significantly different than actual results, our results of operations and financial condition could still be adversely affected. The reserves that we establish for health insurance policy benefits and other contractual rights and benefits are based on assumptions concerning a number of factors, including trends in healthcare costs, expenses, general economic conditions and other factors. To the extent the actual claims experience is unfavorable compared to our underlying assumptions, our incurred losses would increase, and future earnings could be adversely affected. Further, if we are unable to provide higher quality outcomes and better experiences through the development and expansion of our value-based care products at lower costs or to integrate our care delivery model, our results of operations, financial position and cash flows may be adversely impacted. 

Pharmaceutical products and services are a significant component of our healthcare costs. Evolving regulations and state and federal mandates regarding coverage may impact the ability of our health plans to continue to receive existing price discounts on pharmaceutical products for our members. Other factors affecting our pharmaceutical costs include, but are not limited to, existing prices, geographical variation in utilization of new FDA-approved pharmaceuticals and new FDA-approved indications for existing