Utilization Angst Gives Humana, UnitedHealth a Tough Start to 2024

January 19

If the market reactions to a Humana Inc. regulatory filing and to UnitedHealth Group’s latest earnings report are any indication, concerns about elevated care utilization that cropped up in the second half of 2023 have followed health insurers into the new year.

While Humana had already expected that heightened medical care use among its senior enrollees would continue through the rest of 2023, “actual fourth quarter results reflect an additional increase in Medicare Advantage medical cost trends,” the company said in a Jan. 18 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Health Plan Weekly

Leslie Small

Leslie has been working in journalism since 2009 and reporting on the health care industry since 2014. She has covered the many ups and downs of the Affordable Care Act exchanges, the failed health insurer mega-mergers, and hundreds of other storylines spanning subjects such as Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage, employer-sponsored insurance, and prescription drug coverage. As the managing editor of Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits, she writes and edits for both publications while overseeing a small team of reporters who also focus on the managed care sector. Before joining AIS Health, she was a senior editor for the e-newsletter Fierce Health Payer, and she started her career as a copy editor at multiple local newspapers. She graduated with a dual degree in journalism and political science from Penn State University.