Health insurer Cigna Corp, which is trying to ditch a takeover bid by Anthem Inc, said on Friday that first-quarter profit rose and it added hundreds of thousands of new members in its Obamacare individual business. Anthem also said on Friday it would appeal to the US Supreme Court to rule against the Justice Department's disapproval of the $54 billion merger, which would create the largest US health insurer by membership.

Analysts and antitrust experts said they expected the Supreme Court to decline to take the case. Many insurers have lost money on the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, and some of Cigna's largest competitors, including Aetna Inc, have largely left the market.

Cigna's individual members, most of whom are on Obamacare, rose to 353,000 in the quarter from 193,000 a year ago, the company said in a statement. Cigna raised its 2017 forecast for adjusted income from operations to $9.25 to $9.75 per share, from $9.00 to $9.50. Analysts' consensus estimate is $9.53. Net income rose to $598 million, or $2.30 per share, in the first quarter, from $519 million, or $2.00 per share, a year earlier. Excluding items, Cigna earned $2.77 per share, above the average analyst estimate of $2.45 according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Copyright Reuters, 2017