Elevance Health logged nearly $1.4 billion in third-quarter profit for 2026, up 14.8% year over year.
The company posted its earnings Oct. 21. That same day, Elevance named Jeff Park as president of healthcare services subsidiary Carelon, effective Dec. 1. Mr. Park was most recently president of health technology company Waltz Health. Along with other healthcare leadership roles, he previously served as COO of pharmacy benefit manager Optum Rx, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Elevance raised its full-year 2026 guidance, expecting diluted and adjusted diluted earnings per share of at least $22 and $29, respectively.
Operating revenue for the quarter was $50.4 billion, up 0.7% from the same period in 2025. The earnings release attributed this growth to higher premium yields, higher product revenue from pharmacy benefit manager CarelonRx and growth in service fees. This was somewhat offset by lower Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and employer group risk-based membership.
The company’s third-quarter operating margin was 2.5%, slightly down from 2.6% in third-quarter 2025.
Elevance’s medical loss ratio was 90.6%, down 70 basis points year over year. Days in claims payable stood at 44.9 days, up 3.5 days from third-quarter 2025.
Total medical membership was 44.9 million, a decrease of 0.1% from last quarter and 1.1% year over year. The company had 2.8 million and 8.2 million Medicare and Medicaid members, respectively. Medicare membership was down 10.4% and Medicaid membership was down 4.9% year over year.
Health benefits
Health benefits revenue — spanning Anthem and Wellpoint — approached $43.4 billion for the quarter, a 2.6% year-over-year increase. Higher premium yields and service fee revenue were behind this growth, with membership dips partially offsetting results.
The operating margin was 1%, down from 1.4%, and the operating gain was $436 million versus $601 million in the comparable quarter of 2025, showing “the impact of targeted investments to support our long-term operating model.”
Carelon
Carelon revenue grew 5.4% year over year, reaching $19.3 billion for the third quarter. This was spurred by CarelonRx product revenue and further expansion of Carelon Services risk-based solutions. Carelon’s operating margin was 4.7%, up from 4.2% in third-quarter 2025.
CarelonRx’s operating gain was $616 million for the quarter, up 10.8% year over year. Its operating margin grew to 5.3%, up 20 basis points from the same period last year.
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