News Briefs: UnitedHealth 3Q Earnings Beat Wall Street Expectations

UnitedHealth Group on Oct. 14 reported adjusted earnings per share of $5.79, beating the Wall Street consensus estimate of $5.43. Driving that result was UnitedHealth’s medical loss ratio of 81.6%, which was meaningfully lower than the consensus estimate of 82.4%. The company's “solid performance was largely broad-based with both UHC [insurance division UnitedHealthcare] and Optum beating our segment earning estimates by 13.2% and 1.7%, respectively,” SVB Securities analyst Whit Mayo advised investors.  

The Biden administration on Oct. 11 released its final rule fixing the so-called “family glitch” in the Affordable Care Act. A 2021 Kaiser Family Foundation analysis estimated that 5.1 million people fall into the family glitch, which “occurs when a worker receives an offer of affordable employer coverage for themselves but not for their dependents, making them ineligible for financial assistance for marketplace coverage.” In a statement on the final rule, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said that the final rule “resolves a flaw in prior ACA regulations to bring more affordable coverage to about one million Americans. Our goal is simple: leave no one behind and give everyone the peace of mind that comes with health insurance.”