Elevance Health Reports Q4 and 2024 Financial News
After some rocky news from UnitedHealth Group earlier, Elevance Health reported some mixed financial news as well. Elevance said it would grow 7% to 9% in Medicare Advantage (MA). The company did say it is attacking growth prudently given rate concerns and utilization trends. Elevance also says that while MA rates are moving in the right direction, rates for 2026 will be inadequate based on the Advance Notice recently released.
But like United, year-over-year margins decreased even though Elevance beat Wall Street. Its services unit, Carelon, showed robust revenue growth.
On Medicaid, Elevance said Medicaid rate pressures could ease in 2H 2025 and that it is encouraged by some rate hikes it is seeing from states.
As has been seen with other insurers, Elevance’s all lines of business medical loss ratio (MLR) rose considerably to 92.4% in the fourth quarter, up from 89.5% in the third quarter and from 89.2% in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Additional articles: https://www.modernhealthcare.com/insurance/elevance-health-medicaid-costs-2025 and https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/elevance-2024-results-medicaid-medicare-advantage/738024/ and https://www.beckerspayer.com/payer/2026-medicare-advantage-rates-inadequate-elevance-execs-say.html and https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/elevance-pulls-418-million-q4-profit
(Some articles may require a subscription.)
#elevancehealth #healthplans #mlrs #margins #medicareadvantage #medicaid #managedcare
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/elevance-health-reports-418m-profit-q4
UnitedHealth Group Names New Insurance Head
UnitedHealth Group named longtime executive over Medicare Tim Noel as the new CEO of the insurance division. He replaces slain leader Brian Thompson.
Additional articles: https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/unitedhealthcare-taps-company-veteran-tim-noel-new-ceo and https://www.modernhealthcare.com/people/unitedhealthcare-tim-noel-ceo-brian-thompson
(Some articles may require a subscription.)
#unitedhealthcare #tragedy
https://www.beckerspayer.com/executive-moves/unitedhealthcare-names-new-ceo.html
Purdue Pharma And Sacklers Reach New Settlement Deal
Bankrupt Purdue Pharma and owners, the disgraced Sackler Family, reached a new settlement where the two would pay $7.4 billion to a group of states and other parties to settle suits over OxyContin’s role in the deadly opioid epidemic.
The U.S. Supreme Court last year rejected a $6 billion pact that would have protected the billionaire Sackler family from any further litigation. The new deal does not do that, but I continue to believe that any deal short of stripping the Sacklers of all their wealth and criminally prosecuting certain family members is a bad one. The deal allows the Sacklers to remain billionaires despite the misery they personally caused tens of millions of people.
Additional article: https://www.modernhealthcare.com/legal/purdie-pharma-lp-sackler-family-settlement-oxycontin-opioid-epidemic
(Some articles may require a subscription.)
#opioids
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5103307-purdue-pharma-sacklers-opioid-crisis-settlement
Kennedy Confirmation Hearing Next Week
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. appears before Senate committees next week for his confirmation. Along with a few other nominees, Kennedy has emerged as a bit vulnerable given some of his controversial stances. However, the GOP is predicting that he will make it in a close vote. They say he could yet receive some Democratic votes.
Additional articles: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5101469-rkf-jr-hhs-bipartisan-opposition/ and https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/rfk-kennedy-hhs-senate-confirmation-hearing/738127/
(Some articles may require a subscription.)
#rfkjr #hhs #healthcare #congress
https://www.modernhealthcare.com/politics-policy/rfk-jr-confirmation-hearings-date-senate
— Marc S. Ryan