Mark Farrah Associates Delves into Acquisition Impacts Utilizing New Tools

By: Mark Farrah Associates via Business Wire

January 21, 2025 at 11:17 AM EST

ⓘ This article is third-party content and does not represent the views of this site. We make no guarantees regarding its accuracy or completeness.

Mark Farrah Associates (MFA), www.markfarrah.com, reviewed data on Elevance Health, Inc.’s (NYSE: ELV) Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield subsidiary’s acquisition of Indiana University Health Plans (IU Health Plans) on December 31, 2024. Data was obtained utilizing multiple products available to MFA’s customers, including the NEW Enrollment Analysis tables in Medicare Benefits Analyzer^TM and the improved mapping capabilities under its County Health Coverage^TM product’s new user interface.

Understanding why Elevance Health, Inc., the second largest health insurer in the United States, acquired IU Health Plans, a small, local, provider-owned insurance carrier, helps to gain insights into future competitive challenges in a market.

Key takeaways from the brief include:

Elevance Health Group offers coverage through Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and affiliated Blues plans in 14 states, including Indiana (IN). With nearly 3.2 million members in Indiana, Elevance is more than four times larger than its nearest competitor, UnitedHealth Group, based on total health enrollment.
Utilizing MFA’s NEW Enrollment Analysis table, found in its Medicare Benefits Analyzer^TM(MBA) product, MFA analysts noted Elevance currently ranks third in Indiana for Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment, with only 134,006 members as of December 1, 2024. IU Health Plans ranks fifth. The acquisition solidifies Elevance’s third place ranking in the Indiana MA marketplace, while applying pressure on second place Humana.
In addition, the NEW Market Leaders mapping capabilities in MFA’s County Health Coverage^TM, that provides a visual display of the market leader by county for a selected state, indicates Elevance is the MA market leader in counties along the perimeter of the state, while the Market Overview map shows IU Health Plans’ MA/MAPDP enrollment is clustered within the center, an area where UnitedHealth is the market leader.
Utilizing the new County Health Coverage^TM mapping features allows analysts to drill down to a more nuanced level, providing additional insights into the strategy behind the decision of the acquisition.

To read the full text of "Understanding Health Insurer Acquisition Impacts", visit the Analysis Briefs library on Mark Farrah Associates' website.

About Mark Farrah Associates (MFA)

MFA is a leading data aggregator and publisher providing health plan market data and analysis tools for the healthcare industry. Committed to simplifying analysis of health insurance business, our products include: Health Coverage Portal™, Medicare Business Online™, Medicare Benefits Analyzer™, County Health Coverage™, Health Plans USA™ and 5500 Employer Health Plus. Follow us on LinkedIn!

Also, for the latest insights about health plan enrollment trends and financial performance, visit the FREE MFA Briefs on the MFA website.