A surprising Costs Medicare Advantage helped Unitedhealth to a rare dive Thursday, after the health care giant cut his forecasts in 2025 after a first quarter worse than expected.
The company’s share price has flowed more than $ 130 Thursday afternoon, pointing to its worst day in more than 25 years. His first quarter report also shaken other health insurers.
The leaders of Unitedhealth said that the use of care of persons registered with its increase in the increase in the increase in increases to twice as much as they had planned for the quarter.
This contributed to a global performance which was “frankly unusual and unacceptable,” CEO Andrew Witty told analysts at a call conference. But he pointed out that it was a temporary and repairable problem.
Unexpected SPIKE use has not extended to the other company’s coverage lines, which include commercial insurance and the Medicaid plans funded by the State and the Federal Government.
Unitedhealth Group Inc. operates the country’s largest health insurer, Unitedhealthcare, which covers more than 50 million people. It also has a large pharmacy service manager who manages the coverage of prescription drugs and an increasing opposite segment which provides care and provides technical support.
With more than 8 million customers, United Healthcare is the largest supplier in the Medicare Advantage Plans. These are private versions of the federal government’s coverage program mainly for people aged 65 and over.
Insurers have struggled to maintain the beneficiary margins of Medicare Advantage as financing reductions in the administration of former president Joe Biden, combined with the use of the rise in care and at costs, said Daniel Barasa, portfolio director at Gabelli Funds.
But he noted that recently announced 2026 increase in rates for the Medicare advantage should help start next year.
Overall, UNITEDHEALTH recorded a profit of $ 6.3 billion during the quarter. This is compared to a loss of $ 1.41 billion last year, when the company absorbed the heavy costs of a cyber attack on his health business.
The adjusted profit totaled $ 7.20 per share out of $ 109.58 billion in income in the first quarter of this year.
Analysts expect a profit of $ 7.29 per share out of $ 111.53 billion in sales, according to the Factseet data company.
For 2025, United Headhealth now predicts an adjusted profit ranging from $ 26 to $ 26.50 per share. Eden Prairie, Minnesota, initially planned a profit from $ 29.50 to $ 30 in December. He then reaffirmed this perspective in January.
Analysts provide for a profit of $ 29.72 per share.
Its shares fell 23% to $ 450.30 in exchange for the afternoon. This weighed on the industrial average of Dow Jones, of which United is a component.
The decline has pushed the stock to its greatest drop in percentage of a day since September 30, 1999, according to Fostset. The course of the action had reached a summit of more than $ 630 last November.
United is the first insurer to declare the results each quarter. Many consider him a sector in Belwether. The actions of other insurers also dropped on Thursday, but none has dropped as strongly as Unitedhealth.
Competitor Elect Health Inc. said he does not expect surprises when he publishes results of the first quarter later this month.
The Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer covers more than 2 million people in Medicare Advantage. He previewed Thursday in the first quarter which will take place better than Wall Street forecasts.
“Although the health insurance trends remain high, the (company) experience in the first quarter was in line with its expectations and its prices,” said Elevance, based in Indianapolis, in a securities commission file.
