Summary of Signficant Accounting Policies

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2018

Significant Accounting Policies [Text Block]

Note 2 – Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of Presentation

The Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Cigna Corporation and its subsidiaries. Intercompany transactions and accounts have been eliminated in consolidation. These Consolidated Financial Statements were prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). Amounts recorded in the Consolidated Financial Statements necessarily reflect management’s estimates and assumptions about medical costs, investment valuation, interest rates and other factors. Significant estimates are discussed throughout these Notes; however, actual results could differ from those estimates. The impact of a change in estimate is generally included in earnings in the period of adjustment. Certain reclassifications have been made to prior year amounts to conform to the current presentation.

These interim Consolidated Financial Statements are unaudited but include all adjustments (including normal recurring adjustments) necessary, in the opinion of management, for a fair statement of financial position and results of operations for the periods reported. The interim Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes included in the Company’s 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K (“2017 Form 10-K”). The preparation of interim Consolidated Financial Statements necessarily relies heavily on estimates. This and certain other factors, including the seasonal nature of portions of the health care and related benefits business, as well as competitive and other market conditions, call for caution in estimating full-year results based on interim results of operations.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

The Company’s 2017 Form 10-K includes discussion of significant recent accounting pronouncements that either have impacted or may impact our financial statements in the future.

The following tables provide information about recently adopted and recently issued or changed accounting guidance (applicable to Cigna) that have occurred since the Company filed its 2017 Form 10-K.

Recently Adopted Accounting Guidance

Accounting Standard and Adoption Date	Requirements and Effects of Adopting New Guidance
Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2014-09 and related amendments)Adopted as of January 1, 2018	Requires:
	•	Revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the Company expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services
	•	Additional revenue-related disclosures
	Effects of adoption:
	•	Applies to the Company’s service and mail order pharmacy contracts with customers
	•	Adopted through full retrospective restatement
	•	Cumulative effect adjustment of $24 million after-tax was recorded, reducing the December 31, 2016 balance of retained earnings. Adjustment established a contract liability for service fee revenue billed that must be deferred and allocated to services performed after a customer contract terminates. Subsequent changes in the contract liability and the related impact to net income and per share amounts since adoption were immaterial.
	•	Immaterial reclassifications were made to prior periods in the Consolidated Statements of Income to conform to the current presentation. The ASU and related interpretive guidance provide clarification on topics including whether all or a part of a contract is within its scope, and the definition of a customer. Companies are required to identify and evaluate distinct performance obligations within their contracts. These clarifications resulted in reclassifications within the Global Health Care Segment affecting premiums, fees and other revenues, Global Health Care medical costs, and other operating expenses and had no impact on recognition patterns or net income.
	•	Prior period balances in the Company's footnote disclosures have been updated to reflect adjustments resulting from the adoption of this ASU.
Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities (ASU 2016-01 and related amendments)Adopted as of January 1, 2018	Requires entities to measure equity investments at fair value in net income if they are neither consolidated nor accounted for under the equity method
	Effects of adoption:
	•	Certain limited partnership interests previously carried at cost of approximately $200 million were increased to fair value of approximately $275 million on January 1, 2018. Subsequent changes in fair value are reported in net investment income.
	•	Changes in fair value for equity securities that have a readily determinable fair value that were previously reported in accumulated other comprehensive income are now reported in net realized investment gains.
	•	Cumulative effect adjustment of $62 million after-tax was recorded, increasing the opening balance of retained earnings in 2018.
	•	See Notes 9 and 10 for updated disclosures about equity securities.
Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities (ASU 2017-12)Early adopted as of January 1, 2018	Guidance:
	•	Relaxes requirements for financial and nonfinancial hedging strategies to be eligible for hedge accounting and changes how companies assess effectiveness
	•	Amends presentation and disclosure requirements to improve transparency about the uses and results of hedging programs
	Effects of adoption:
	•	An immaterial amount of retained earnings was reclassified to accumulated other comprehensive income, decreasing the opening balance in 2018, for a portion of the hedging instruments that was previously excluded from the assessment of hedge effectiveness for fair value hedges.
	•	See Note 11 for the Company's disclosures about derivatives.

Recently Adopted Accounting Guidance

Accounting Standard and Adoption Date	Requirements and Effects of Adopting New Guidance
Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (ASU 2018-02)Early adopted as of January 1, 2018	Guidance:
	•	Allows companies to reclassify the tax effects stranded in accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings as a result of H.R.1, An Act to Provide for Reconciliation Pursuant to Titles II and V of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2018 (referred to throughout this Form 10-Q as "U.S. tax reform" or "U.S. tax reform legislation")
	•	Requires additional disclosures of the Company's accounting policy for releasing income tax effects from accumulated other comprehensive income
	•	Allows companies to apply the guidance retrospectively or in the period of adoption
	Effects of adoption: Accumulated other comprehensive income of $229 million was reclassified to retained earnings, increasing the opening balance in 2018. See Note 13 for additional information including accounting policy disclosures.

In addition to the standards listed above, the Company adopted the following guidance in first quarter 2018 with no material impact to our financial statements: Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets Other than Inventory (ASU 2016-16), Clarifying the Definition of a Business (ASU 2017-01), Improving the Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost (ASU 2017-07), Statement of Cash Flows: Restricted Cash (ASU 2016-18), Gains and Losses from the Derecognition of Nonfinancial Assets (ASU 2017-05) and Stock Compensation Scope of Modification Accounting (ASU 2017-09).

Accounting Guidance Not Yet Adopted

Accounting Standard and Effective Date Applicable for Cigna	Requirements and Expected Effects of Guidance Not Yet Adopted
Leases (ASU 2016-02 and related amendments)Required as of January 1, 2019	Requires:
	•	Balance sheet recognition of assets and liabilities arising from leases, including leases embedded in other contracts
	•	Additional disclosures of the amount, timing and uncertainty of cash flows from leases
	•	Modified retrospective approach for leases in effect as of and after the date of adoption with a cumulative-effect adjustment recorded in retained earnings
	Expected effects:
	•	The Company is continuing to evaluate the impact this standard will have on its financial statements.
	•	While not yet quantified, the Company expects a material impact to its Consolidated Balance Sheets from recognizing additional assets and liabilities of operating leases upon adoption. The actual increase in assets and liabilities will depend on the volume and terms of leases in place at the time of adoption.
	•	The Company plans to elect the optional practical expedient to retain the current classification of leases, and therefore, does not anticipate a material impact to the Consolidated Statements of Income or Cash Flows.
	•	The Company is implementing a new lease system and also expects that adoption of the new standard will require changes to internal control over financial reporting.

Updates to Significant Accounting Policies

The Company’s 2017 Form 10-K includes discussion of significant accounting policies in Note 2 or the applicable Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Significant updates to these policies resulting from the adoption of new accounting guidance in 2018 are provided as follows:

ASU 2016-1 (Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Liabilities): see Notes 9 and 10
ASU 2017-12 (Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities): see Note 11
ASU 2014-09 (Revenue from Contracts with Customers), also referred to as Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers and related guidance (“ASC 606”): see below.

The majority of the Company’s revenues are not subject to the guidance in ASC 606, including premiums from insurance contracts and fees for investment-related products accounted for under insurance guidance (ASC 944). ASC 606 applies to the Company’s service and mail order pharmacy contracts with clients. See Note 17 for disaggregated revenue from external customers by segment and by major product or service identified with applicable accounting guidance (ASC 944 or ASC 606).

Accounting for Contracts with Customers – Service and Mail Order Pharmacy Arrangements

Service Fees and Expenses

The majority of the Company’s service fees are derived from administrative services only (“ASO”) arrangements that allow corporate clients to self-fund claims and assume the risk of medical or other benefit costs. Most of the Company’s ASO arrangements are for Global Health Care medical and specialty services, including pharmacy benefits and, to a lesser extent, ASO services in its Group Disability and Life and Global Supplemental Benefits segments. Generally, the Company’s ASO arrangements are short-term. Contract modifications typically occur on renewal and are prospective in nature.

In return for fees from these clients, the Company provides or makes available various services supporting benefit management and claims administration. In addition, Global Health Care’s services include access to the Company’s participating provider networks, disease management, utilization management, and cost containment services.

In general, the Company considers these services to be a combined performance obligation to provide cost effective administration of plan benefits over the contract period. Fees are billed, due and recognized monthly at contracted rates based on current membership or utilization. This recognition pattern aligns with the benefits from services provided to clients. These revenues are reported in fees and other revenues in the Consolidated Statements of Income.

For most ASO arrangements, the Company is required to perform services for a limited period after a client cancels. If these services will not be separately billed to the client as they are performed, the Company estimates and defers a portion of compensation attributable to this service obligation received in advance. Deferred revenue is recorded as a contract liability in accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities and recognized when the related services are performed.

The Company may also provide performance guarantees that provide potential refunds to clients if certain service standards, clinical outcomes or financial metrics are not met. If these standards, outcomes and metrics are not met, the Company may be financially at risk up to a stated percentage of the contracted fee or a stated dollar amount. The Company defers revenue by recording a liability for estimated payouts associated with these guarantees within accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities. The amount of revenue deferred is estimated for each type of guarantee, using either a most likely amount or expected value method depending upon the nature of the guarantee and the information available to estimate refunds. Estimates are refined each reporting period as additional information on the Company’s performance becomes available, and upon final reconciliation and settlement at the end of the guarantee period. Amounts accrued and paid for performance guarantees during the reporting periods were not material.

Service fees are recognized net of estimated pharmaceutical manufacturer rebates payable to ASO clients using our network of retail pharmacies. Net rebates retained by the Company from pharmaceutical manufacturers resulting from ASO client utilization at retail pharmacies represent compensation for pharmacy services and are reflected as fee revenue. Rebates generally represent a per script amount from the manufacturer and are determined based on scripts filled during the reporting period.

Expenses associated with administrative programs and services are recognized in other operating expenses as incurred.

Mail Order Pharmacy Revenues and Costs

Mail order pharmacy revenues are due and recognized as each prescription is shipped. Mail order pharmacy revenues are presented net of estimated pharmaceutical manufacturer rebates payable to ASO clients that use our mail order business. Rebates are generally determined based on actual prescriptions filled during the reporting period.

Mail order pharmacy costs are recognized as each prescription is shipped and include the cost of prescriptions sold and other costs to operate this business (including supplies, shipping and handling), net of estimated pharmaceutical rebates from manufacturers for prescriptions filled through our mail order business.

Contract Balances

The following table provides information about receivables and contract liabilities from service and mail order pharmacy contracts with clients. The allowance for doubtful accounts for receivables and the Company’s contract assets were not material as of the dates presented.


(In millions)	June 30, 2018		December 31, 2017
Receivables, net	$	911	$	885
Contract liabilities	$	56	$	54

Revenue recognized for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017 that was included in the contract liability balance at the beginning of the reporting period was not material.

The amount of revenue recognized for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017 from performance obligations satisfied in prior periods was not material.

The incremental costs of obtaining ASO and mail order pharmacy contracts (such as sales commissions) are expensed as incurred and the Company does not disclose information about remaining performance obligations for these contracts in accordance with elections made by the Company as they are generally short-term with original expected durations of one year or less.