Aetna 2014 Annual Report Download - page 12

Annual Report- Page 6
Our discussion of operating results is based on operating earnings. Operating earnings exclude from net income
attributable to Aetna reported in accordance with GAAP, net realized capital gains or losses, amortization of other
acquired intangible assets and other items, if any, that neither relate to the ordinary course of our business nor
reflect our underlying business performance. Although the excluded items may recur, we believe excluding them
from net income attributable to Aetna to arrive at operating earnings provides more meaningful information about
our underlying business performance. Net realized capital gains and losses arise from various types of transactions,
primarily in the course of managing a portfolio of assets that support the payment of liabilities. Amortization of
other acquired intangible assets relates to our acquisition activities, including Coventry, InterGlobal and bSwift.
These transactions and amortization do not directly relate to the underwriting or servicing of products for our
customers and are not directly related to the core performance of our business operations. Operating earnings is the
measure reported to our Chief Executive Officer for purposes of assessing financial performance and making
operating decisions, such as the allocation of resources among our business segments. In each business segment
discussion in this MD&A, we provide a table that reconciles operating earnings to net income attributable to
Aetna. Each table details the net realized capital gains or losses, amortization of other acquired intangible assets
and any other items excluded from net income attributable to Aetna, and the footnotes to each table describe the
nature of each other item and why we believe it is appropriate to exclude that item from net income attributable to
Aetna. Non-GAAP financial measures we disclose, such as operating earnings, should not be considered a
substitute for, or superior to, financial measures determined or calculated in accordance with GAAP.
HEALTH CARE
Health Care consists of medical, pharmacy benefit management services, dental, behavioral health and vision plans
offered on both an Insured basis and an ASC basis and Healthagen® products and services, such as ACS, that
complement and enhance our medical products. Medical products include point-of-service (“POS”), preferred
provider organization (“PPO”), health maintenance organization (“HMO”) and indemnity benefit plans. Medical
products also include health savings accounts (“HSAs”) and Aetna HealthFund®, consumer-directed health plans
that combine traditional POS or PPO and/or dental coverage, subject to a deductible, with an accumulating benefit
account (which may be funded by the plan sponsor and/or the member in the case of HSAs). We also offer
Medicare and Medicaid products and services and other medical products, such as medical management and data
analytics services, medical stop loss insurance, workers’ compensation administrative services and products that
provide access to our provider networks in select geographies. We separately track premiums and health care costs
for Government businesses (which represents our combined Medicare and Medicaid products). All other medical,
dental and other Health Care products are referred to as Commercial.