The nation’s largest health insurance provider said Thursday that enrollment in its Medicare Advantage plans grew nearly 9% to about 6.9 million people, and the company also booked growth in other government-funded coverage. Its larger commercial enrollment stayed nearly flat.
UnitedHealth is the biggest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, which are privately run versions of the federally funded Medicare program.
The company runs UnitedHealthcare, a health insurance business that covers more than 50 million people mostly in
First-quarter operating earnings, which don’t count interest expense and taxes, slid for the company's health insurance business but jumped almost 20% to
UnitedHealth said the revenue it drew per customer from its care-providing
UnitedHealth and competitors like the drugstore chains
The idea is that regular care will keep patients with chronic health problems like diabetes healthy and out of expensive hospitals. It's an approach gaining favor with bill payers like insurers and employers.
Overall, UnitedHealth earnings grew more than 3% to
Company leaders told analysts Thursday morning that UnitedHealth started the quarter with about 40,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations in January. That marked the highest total of any month since the pandemic started more than two years ago.
That total then dwindled to about 2,000 hospitalizations by March, as the omicron surge of virus faded.
UnitedHealth's adjusted results totaled
Analysts expected, on average, earnings of
For the full year, UnitedHealth now expects adjusted earnings of
FactSet says analysts expect earnings of
UnitedHealth's forecast hike was conservative compared to how much the company beat first-quarter expectations, Jefferies analyst
Shares of
UnitedHealth's share price has more than doubled over the past couple years.
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