As the nation prepares to roll out the next phase of Obamacare, the second biggest medical insurer said Wednesday that it expects to lose members in health insurance plans sponsored by smaller employers. At the same time, WellPoint expects membership gains in self-insured employer plans and in the kind of individual plans that will be sold in subsidized exchanges starting Oct. 1. "I would not call it an academic assumption at this point," WellPoint chief financial officer Wayne DeVeydt said on a conference call with stock analysts. "We continue to see small group attrition accelerate even more as we get to the back half of the second quarter. And we expect that to continue."
