A Jump in Enrollment Helps UnitedHealth

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Source: Associated Press

The health insurer UnitedHealth Group said Tuesday its second-quarter net income rose 31 percent as enrollment and costs were better than Wall Street had expected.

The company’s total enrollment grew about 1 percent, to 32.5 million compared with last year, with gains in Medicare and Medicaid businesses offsetting commercial health insurance losses.

Commercial insurance, which includes employer-sponsored group coverage and individual policies, makes up more than 75 percent of UnitedHealth’s medical enrollment. That segment’s enrollment fell by 440,000, or less than 2 percent, from a year ago.

Last year, commercial enrollment fell 6 percent in the second quarter compared with 2008, as UnitedHealth and other insurers dealt with employer job cuts during the recession.

The company earned $1.12 billion, or 99 cents a share, up from the $859 million, or 73 cents a share, in the period a year earlier. Revenue increased 7 percent, to $23.26 billion

Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/business/21health.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=print