Cigna Group

The Cigna Group, together with its subsidiaries (either individually or collectively referred to as the "Company," "we," "us" or "our") is a global health company with a mission of helping those we serve improve their health and vitality. Our subsidiaries offer a differentiated set of pharmacy, medical, behavioral, dental and related products and services. For further information on our business and strategy, see Part 1, Item 1, "Business" of this Form 10-K.

Financial Highlights

See Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for a description of our segments. Effective January 1, 2023, we adopted amended accounting guidance for long-duration insurance contracts. Prior period financial highlights and results of operations have been retrospectively adjusted to conform to this new basis of accounting. The impact of this amended guidance is immaterial. See Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

Summarized below are certain key measures of our performance by segment:

For further analysis and explanation of each segment's results, see the "Segment Reporting" section of this MD&A.

Commentary: 2023 versus 2022

The commentary presented below, and in the segment discussions that follow, compare results for the year ended December 31, 2023 with results for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Shareholders' net income decreased 23%, reflecting the estimated loss associated with the sale of our Medicare Advantage, Medicare Stand-Alone Prescription Drug Plans, Medicare and Other Supplemental Benefits and CareAllies businesses (the "HCSC transaction"), the absence of the gain on the sale of our life, accident and supplemental health benefits business in six countries sold on July 1, 2022 (the "Chubb transaction"), partially offset by foreign deferred tax benefits recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023 as described further under "effective tax rate" below.

Adjusted income from operations increased 2%, primarily driven by higher earnings in our Cigna Healthcare and Evernorth Health Services segments, largely offset by the absence of earnings reported in the first half of 2022 from the businesses divested in the Chubb transaction and increased interest expense and pension costs.

Medical customers increased 10%, reflecting growth in fee-based customers as well as in Individual and Family Plans and Medicare Advantage customers. See Part I, Item 1 of this Form 10-K for definitions of Cigna Healthcare's market segments.

Pharmacy revenues increased 7%, reflecting inflation on branded drugs as well as growth in specialty. See the "Segment Reporting - Evernorth Health Services Segment" section of this MD&A for further discussion.

Premiums increased 11% reflecting insured customer growth and higher premium rates in Cigna Healthcare due to anticipated underlying medical cost trend. See the "Segment Reporting - Cigna Healthcare Segment" section of this MD&A for further discussion. These favorable effects were partially offset by a decline in premiums due to the Chubb transaction.

Fees and other revenues increased 16%, primarily reflecting client growth from our continued affordability services within Evernorth Health Services.

Net investment income increased 1%, primarily due to growth in average assets, largely offset by the unfavorable impact of the Chubb transaction. See the "Investment Assets" section of this MD&A for further discussion.

Pharmacy and other service costs increased 7%, reflecting inflation on branded drugs as well as growth in specialty.

Medical costs and other benefit expenses increased 13%, primarily reflecting insured customer growth and medical cost trend in Cigna Healthcare, partially offset by the impact of the Chubb transaction.

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased 13%, primarily driven by volume-related expenses in Cigna Healthcare due to business growth, as well as increased investments to support the onboarding of new clients and continued advancement of our digital capabilities and care solutions in Evernorth Health Services. Increased expenses were also driven by costs reported in 2023 for an organizational efficiency plan and litigation settlements. These increases were partially offset by the impact of the Chubb transaction.

Interest expense and other increased 18%, primarily reflecting higher interest rates on our indebtedness and increased pension costs. See the "Segment Reporting - Corporate" section of this MD&A for further discussion.

(Loss) / gain on sale of businesses. The loss reported in 2023 primarily reflects asset write-downs and estimated costs related to the HCSC transaction. In 2022, the reported gain reflects the impact of the Chubb transaction, which closed on July 1, 2022.

Realized investment results were substantially improved, primarily due to lower mark-to-market losses on investments. See Note 12 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion.

The effective tax rate decreased substantially driven by foreign deferred tax benefits. Also contributing to the decrease were favorable results relative to the Company's foreign operations and the release of uncertain tax positions resulting from favorable audit developments. These favorable effects were partially offset by the impact of the valuation allowance recorded resulting from the HCSC transaction. See Note 23 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

Recent Events

Economic Conditions

We continue to monitor global economic conditions, including inflation, labor market dynamics and recent geopolitical events. We continue to proactively address impacts to our pricing with third parties (including vendors, health care providers and drug providers), our investment portfolio and our workforce. We are also monitoring the potential impact on client and customer health care needs.

Our results of operations or cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2023 were not materially impacted by inflation, labor market dynamics, or recent geopolitical events. For further information regarding risks we encounter in our business due to economic conditions, see "Risk Factors" contained in Part I, Item 1A of this Form 10-K.

Conflict in the Middle East

The Cigna Group serves a limited number of customers and clients in the impacted regions in the Middle East. We have not experienced significant impacts to date on our investment portfolio, financial position or results of operations. For a more complete discussion of the risks we encounter in our business, see "Risk Factors" contained in Part I, Item 1A of this Form 10-K.