Health insurer Anthem has bumped up its 2015 forecast again after earnings jumped more than 17 percent in its most recent quarter.

The Blue Cross-Blue Shield carrier now expects 2015 adjusted earnings to top $10 per share, up from a previous forecast for earnings of greater than $9.90 per share.

Analysts forecast, on average, earnings of $10.04 per share, according to FactSet.

Shares edged higher before the opening bell Wednesday.

Second-quarter net income jumped to $859.1 million from $731.1 million, helped by enrollment gains in state and federally funded Medicaid coverage. The Indianapolis company had said last week that its adjusted earnings totaled $3.10 per share in the quarter.

Operating revenue, which excludes investment gains, climbed 8.4 percent to $19.76 billion in the quarter.

That topped analyst expectations for $19.66 billion.

Anthem Inc. its sells coverage in California, New York and Ohio, among other states. It is a prominent player in public exchanges set up by the health care overhaul that allow people to buy individual insurance with the help of income-based tax credits.

The overhaul, which has extended coverage to millions of uninsured people, also expands Medicaid eligibility in several states. Anthem said Wednesday that its enrollment in that program, which helps cover the poor and people with disabilities, jumped nearly 20 percent about 5.8 million people in the second quarter.

That balanced a nearly 9 percent drop in individual insurance. The insurer's total enrollment edged up 3.4 percent to 38.5 million people in the quarter.

Anthem's earnings report comes a few days after it laid out a $48 billion plan to purchase fellow insurer Cigna Corp., the latest multi-billion dollar deal to drop in an industry where the main players are scrambling to get bigger. Aetna Inc., the nation's third-largest health insurer, also plans to spend about $35 billion Medicare Advantage provider Humana Inc.

Medicaid coverage provider Centene Corp. will spend about $6.3 billion on fellow insurer Health Net Inc.

Insurers say these combinations can help them save money by cutting overlapping costs and quickly improve their technology, which is becoming more important in monitoring patient health and helping customers find care. The acquisitions also are a way to quickly push into new markets and in some cases gain negotiating leverage over care providers, who also have been growing bigger in recent years.

The end result of all these deals for the average consumer is murky. These combinations could affect premiums and customer service, but that will depend largely on how it changes an insurer's share of the market where the customer lives.