Commercial Health Insurance Gains at UnitedHealth
Enrollment increased even for risk-based commercial coverage, but fell for Medigap policies.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. says its U.S. commercial health insurance enrollment grew faster than its government plan and international health insurance enrollment in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The Minnetonka, Minnesota-based health insurer giant says the number of people with U.S. commercial coverage increased 3.1%, to about 28 million.
(Related: UnitedHealth Could Add Individual Policies Aimed at HRA Market: CEO)
The number with Medicare or Medicaid plan coverage fell 1.7%, to about 16 million.
UnitedHealth published enrollment figures when it released preliminary earnings figures for the fourth quarter.
Earnings
UnitedHealth is reporting $3.7 billion in net income for the fourth quarter on $61 billion in revenue, up from $3.2 billion in net income on $58 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2018.
UnitedHealth offers pharmacy benefit manager services, data services, health care services and other services as well as health coverage.
The company’s UnitedHealthcare health insurance unit is reporting $2.1 billion in operating earnings for the quarter on $48 billion in revenue, compared with $2.7 billion in operating earnings on $48 billion in revenue for the year-earlier quarter.
Enrollment
The company ended the year providing or administering health coverage for about 49 million people, or about 0.2% more people than it was covering a year earlier.
Here’s what happened to the number of people with key types of UnitedHealth health coverage:
- Risk-based: 8.6 million (+0.9%)
- Fee-based: 19.2 million (+4.2%)
- TOTAL COMMERCIAL: 27.8 million (+3.1%)
- Medicare Advantage: 5.3 million ( +.6%)
- Medicaid: 5.9 million (-8.5%)
- Medicare Supplement (Standardized): 4.5 million (-1.0%)
- TOTAL PUBLIC AND SENIOR: 15.7 million (-1.7%)
- TOTAL DOMESTIC MEDICAL: 43.4 million (+1.3%)
- International: 5.7 million (-8.0%)
- WORLDWIDE TOTAL : 49.2 million (+0.2%)
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