As UnitedHealth Group executives continue to mourn the death of one of the healthcare giant’s top executives … [+]
As UnitedHealth Group executives mourn the death of one of their top executives, the nation’s largest health insurer is bracing for this week’s response to another multibillion-dollar fourth-quarter profit.
The year ended after this the December 4 shooting from UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who unleashed a barrage of scrutiny over health insurers’ denial of medical care and certain other business practices trolls on social media and industry critics, including some in Congress, who say they would like to see reforms.
The company, along with most other competing health insurers, has remained largely obscure with few press releases, while companies — including UnitedHealth — have removed executive photos, biographies and other information from their websites.
Thompson was one of the executives who led UnitedHealth Group’s companies with the title of CEO. UnitedHealth includes the health insurer UnitedHealthcare, to which Thompson belonged, as well as the medical care services of Optum and its many subsidiaries, including OptumRx, one of the largest pharmacy benefit managers in the country.
On Thursday, it will be the first time UnitedHealth executives led by CEO Andrew Witty will speak publicly since Dec. 4, when the company was scheduled to hold its investor day, which was canceled after the New York shooting.
When UnitedHealth reports fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 financial results Thursday before the market opens, the report will almost certainly include a profit, despite rising medical costs for seniors insured by Medicare Advantage plans and the costs suffered by most UnitedHealthcare and Optum companies due to one of the nation’s largest cyberattacks on a U.S. company.
A cyberattack last February on the company’s Change Healthcare operations caused chaos for doctors and medical providers across the country, crippling Change Healthcare’s massive billing and payment system. The attack caused the shutdown of parts of Change Healthcare’s electronic system, preventing physicians and other medical care providers from obtaining insurance authorization for patient services.
The total impact of the cyberattack on UnitedHealth and its subsidiaries is expected to exceed $2.2 billion for all of 2024, the company estimates. A final figure will be included in Thursday’s report.
But the cyberattack hasn’t stopped UnitedHealth from making billions of dollars every quarter this year. In the company’s third quarter, for example, UnitedHealth Group reported profits that topped $6 billion, thanks to its diversified portfolio of health insurance and medical providers that helped it overcome the costs of a cyberattack on its businesses earlier this year.
But Wall Street analysts are bracing for the continued impact of rising medical costs on UnitedHealthcare.
Like the health insurance industry more broadly and insurers like UnitedHealth that have Medicare Advantage businesses, medical care costs have been rising. UnitedHealthcare has more than 50 million customers with medical plans, including 7.8 million people in Medicare Advantage, a privatized insurance coverage for seniors whose costs have risen this year.
Third-quarter net income was $6.06 billion, or $6.51 per share. Analysts estimate UnitedHealth’s fourth quarter earnings average $6.72 per share, which would be up over 9% compared to Q4 2023. Revenue is expected to be over $102 billion, which would be up 8% compared to the previous year. quarter.