Dive Transient:
- Humana is bringing a former Amazon government onboard to guide its Medicare Benefit enterprise within the new 12 months — and to take the reins of the payer’s bigger insurance coverage phase after its present president retires within the again half of 2026.
- Aaron Martin will be a part of Humana in January as president of Medicare Benefit, a newly created function consolidating oversight of Humana’s operations within the privatized Medicare program, the insurer introduced Tuesday. Martin will then step up as president of Humana’s insurance coverage phase after its present head, George Renaudin, retires by the third quarter of subsequent 12 months after virtually three a long time on the insurer.
- At the moment, John Barger, the president of Humana’s Medicaid and dual-eligible applications, can be promoted to president of MA. Renaudin will keep on as strategic advisor at the least till finish of 2026.
Dive Perception:
The departure of Renaudin, a veteran of the Louisville, Kentucky-based payer who’s helped the corporate develop into the MA large it’s in the present day, is unlikely to be welcomed by traders, given it augurs a management turnover at a time of acute stress for insurers within the privatized Medicare program.
And Martin is an surprising substitute, given the manager has by no means been employed by an insurer. For the previous three years, Martin has labored as Amazon’s vp of healthcare, overseeing strategic partnerships, advertising and marketing and Amazon’s telehealth and continual situations applications.
Previous to becoming a member of Amazon in 2022, Martin was the chief digital officer of nonprofit well being system Windfall, and the managing common accomplice of Windfall Ventures, Windfall’s enterprise capital arm that the system later spun out. Martin joined Windfall after an earlier, non-healthcare-related stint at Amazon.
Nonetheless, Humana stated Martin’s expertise on the intersection of know-how, consumerism and healthcare makes him a precious addition to its staff.
“We’re extremely excited to welcome Aaron to Humana. His expertise in making use of know-how and a consumer-centric strategy throughout the healthcare ecosystem will strengthen our capacity to serve members and ship higher outcomes,” Humana CEO Jim Rechtin stated in a press release Tuesday.
Humana is the second-largest MA insurer within the county, overlaying 5.8 million members nationwide. Like its friends within the privatized Medicare program, Humana struggled with rising prices as seniors make the most of extra medical care. Plan cuts coming into 2025 helped insulate the insurer from the brunt of upper spending, although some analysts are nervous about Humana’s positioning in 2026 — the insurer might have made its plans too beneficiant, which might impression margins subsequent 12 months.
Humana can be working to enhance its MA star rankings, which are supposed to measure plan high quality and are tied to profitable bonuses in MA. The insurer has spent tons of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} this 12 months on this pursuit, and says it’s making progress — regardless of lackluster rankings for 2026.
Humana additionally reaffirmed its 2025 earnings per share steerage on Tuesday, beneath analysts’ expectations. The insurer expects adjusted EPS of $17 within the 12 months.
Humana’s inventory fell virtually 6% over Tuesday’s commerce following the information.
