Late-year spike in medical costs forces Humana to scale back profit expectations for 2023
ABC News
Shares of Humana are tumbling after the health insurer said it was still dealing with higher-than-expected care costs from its Medicare Advantage customers and it chopped earnings expectations
Shares of Humana tumbled early Thursday after it said it was dealing with higher-than-expected care costs from its Medicare Advantage customers, forcing it to chop profit expectations.
The update from Humana arrived less than a week after UnitedHealth Group surprised Wall Street, saying that its medical costs had soared 16% in its most recent quarter.
Humana said its Medicare Advantage patients used more inpatient care than it expected in November and December. The health insurer also saw more growth in care that doesn’t involve a hospital stay, like doctor visits and outpatient surgeries.
Shares slumped 13% before the market opened, dragging down other insurers as well early Thursday.
Humana is one of the nation’s largest providers of Medicare Advantage plans, which are privately run versions of the federal government’s Medicare program mostly for people age 65 and older. Insurers dealt with higher-than-expected costs from that patient population through most of last year, partly because patients continued to return to surgery centers and doctor offices after shying away during the COVID-19 pandemic.
