Best’s News & Research Service - March 03, 2022 02:09 PM (EST)
AM Best Removes from Under Review With Developing Implications, Affirms and Withdraws Credit Ratings of AvMed, Inc.
- March 03, 2022 02:09 PM (EST)
Oldwick //BestWire// - AM Best has removed from under review with developing implications and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B (Fair) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “bb” (Fair) of AvMed, Inc. (AvMed) (Miami, FL). The outlook assigned to these Credit Ratings (ratings) is negative. Concurrently, AM Best has withdrawn the ratings as the company has requested to no longer participate in AM Best’s interactive rating process.
The ratings reflect AvMed’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as adequate, as well as its marginal operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.
The assigned negative outlooks reflect AM Best’s expectation that AvMed’s risk-adjusted capitalization is unlikely to remain at the strong assessment level and operating losses are likely to persist through year-end 2021. Given the sizeable decline in AvMed’s absolute capital and surplus, which decreased to $105.4 million with net losses of $17.5 million reported through the third quarter of 2021, AM Best does not expect that these two metrics will improve over the near-term, but will rather likely worsen. AvMed’s September 2021 year-to-date net loss was driven by COVID-19 related hospitalizations and testing costs due to spikes in COVID-19 cases related to the Delta variant. As the positivity rates related to the Omicron variant have emerged significantly higher when compared to the Delta variant during the fourth quarter of 2021, AM Best expects AvMed’s full-year 2021 operating results and capitalization will likely continue to deteriorate. Given reported positivity and hospitalization rates in the Florida market were severe, absolute capital and surplus may further deteriorate and operating losses could be significant through December 2021, and possibly leading into 2022. The final ratings do not reflect future reported operating results or changes in capitalization levels.
This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best’s website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best’s Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best’s Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best’s Credit Ratings, Best’s Performance Assessments, Best’s Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best’s Ratings & Assessments.
AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City.