Health insurer stocks slide as final Medicare Advantage rates disappoint

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNBC

Published Tue, Apr 2 2024 10:04 AM EDT Updated Tue, Apr 2 2024 11:19 AM EDT


Shares of U.S. health insurers fell Tuesday after the Biden administration didn’t boost payments for private Medicare plans as much as the insurance industry and investors had hoped.

Shares of CVS Health fell more than 8% on Tuesday, while UnitedHealth Group’s stock slid nearly 7%. Shares of Elevance Health dropped more than 3% and Centene ’s stock fell 6%.

Meanwhile, Humana ’s stock fell more than 10%. The health-care giant is far more dependent on those private Medicare plans, known as Medicare Advantage, than its rivals.

The announcement puts more pressure on insurers already grappling with high medical costs and uncertainty around claims processing after the cyberattack on UnitedHealth Group’s tech unit. It also deals a blow to Medicare Advantage businesses, which have long driven growth and profits for the insurance industry.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/02/health-insurer-stocks-slide-as-medicare-advantage-rates-disappoint.html

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[magicarpet]

1. Good,.. fuck them,... their goal is to privatize Medicare.

They yse very deceptive means to get people to switch from gov Medicare to privatized Medicare.

[DippyDem]

2. Just wait and

see how hard it will be for them to switch back to regular medicare!

[MOMFUDSKI]

3. If people are forced back into regular

Medicare there will be some unable to pay rent or buy enough groceries. My neighbor was living on $1K/ month SS. Had an Advantage Plan. She passed away few years ago. Now put her on Medicare to the tune of roughly $400/mo cost and she can’t make ends meet.

[Silent Type]

5. +1. Affordability is the crux of matter. Until Congress does something to improve affordability of original Medicare,

people will continue to select Medicare Advantage, even if they have to give up access to some doctors and facilities.

[Big Blue Marble]

6. Low income seniors on Traditional Medicare are eligible for Medicaid.

They do not have to pay the additional costs of buying a supplemental policy.

Medicare Advantage only advantages the corporations that are stealing Medicare funds
and offering so so service at best. It is a corporate ripoff and and end run by Republicans
to destroy real Medicare.

How ludicrous that Medicare is become a for-profit operation being sold on the stock market. It was
intended to be a way to support retired workers as their medical costs increase

Now the beneficiaries are just the commodities that are bought and sold on the open markets while
the customers are the CEO's and the stockholders.

[SCantiGOP]

9. Anyone with $1,000/mo income

Would be eligible for Medicaid at no cost. There certainly wouldn’t be a $400 cost. Sounds like someone was given bad advice to lure them into an Advantage plan.

[Silent Type]

4. We'd be better off if Congress understood why over 50% of Medicare beneficiaries choose Medicare Advantage,

they'd do something to make the original program better/affordable for beneficiaries.

There are lots of retired/semiretired people who cannot pay an extra $200+ a month for a supplement and drug plan, can't bypass a quarterly food allowance, can't bypass a few hundred to several thousand dollars for dental coverage, etc.

We ought to pressure Congress to improve original Medicare or keep funding the extra benefits for Medicare Advantage.

I really don't give a darn if a private insurance company gets a few extra percent in profits if they are providing plans that poor people can afford. Most can't afford original Medicare and the necessary supplement and drug plan, while forgoing dental and vision coverage (even if limited).

[BumRushDaShow]

7. It seems a lot of the Medicare costs, which Biden is trying to deal with

have to do with the exorbitant drug prices and that is why the phase in of negotiated drug prices, which will gradually bring the costs down for the one sector of Medicare that keeps the premiums high.

[Silent Type]

8. Completely agree. But drugs are around 12% of healthcare expenditures. If we cut it in half,

it won’t change things much. And the odds of cutting it in half are small. All for it, but not a game changer.

At least for all of us on drug plans, the coverage gap decreases dramatically in 2025.

[GregariousGroundhog]

10. I have a negative impression of Medicare.

It took them forever to approve coverage of continuous glucose monitors for diabetics, saying that they were no more effective than pricking our finger 4-6 times a day. They finally pulled their head out of their ass before my dad turned 65, but I was worried about him for a while.

I'd be perfectly fine if people 65+ were allowed to enroll in ACA plans with the standard subsidy instead of Medicare. I also understand some people like Medicare and so I wouldn't object to Medicare being offered to everybody as a public option on the ACA exchanges.