Insurance giant UnitedHealth Group announced Wednesday that the company posted record profits for the second quarter—doubling to more than $6.6 billion compared to the same period last year—as the coronavirus pandemic forced patients to cancel or put off elective healthcare or other treatments.
Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, summed up the financial news, tweeting, "The pandemic has been very good for insurance companies so far."
In a statement (pdf), the company attributed the "substantially higher than anticipated" earnings to "the unprecedented, temporary deferral of care in the company's risk-based businesses...The second quarter medical care ratio was impacted by the temporary deferral of care due to the pandemic, declining to 70.2% from 83.1% last year," the company said.
Hospitals are furloughing workers and cutting wages as budgets are squeezed, UnitedHealth's profits soar. 30% of every dollar they got in premiums this quarter didn't go for healthcare — they kept it.
Insurers must give rebates to consumers and small businesses if the percent of premiums going to medical care drops below 80%. But, the rebates would not be provided until next fall and are calculated on a rolling three year basis.
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