Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
UnitedHealth, Humana Remain Medicare Advantage's Major Players
UnitedHealth Group and Humana enroll more Medicare Advantage members than any other insurers, and it really isn't that close, according to the latest government data. More than 16.6 million people had a Medicare Advantage plan as of Dec. 1. Medicare's open-enrollment period ended Dec. 7, so that figure is likely to be even larger once the CMS releases its next monthly enrollment report. The private Medicare program has been a boon for insurers the past several years, offering sizable volumes and steady profit margins. Some companies have said the growth in Medicare Advantage, spurred in part by the aging baby boomer population, will be fundamentally important to earnings growth in 2015 and beyond. (Herman, 12/17)
In other marketplace news, reports about Genworth Investors' long-term care insurance policies, as well as forecasts for hospitals -
Shares of Genworth Financial Inc. are taking another dive after the insurer delayed the completion of an annual review of its reserves for the long problematic line of long-term-care insurance. Some Wall Street analysts interpreted the delay as bad news, following the worse-than-expected third-quarter charge disclosed in November for the initial part of the annual review. (Scism, 12/ 17)
Credit ratings agencies are forecasting trouble for the U.S. hospital sector in 2015 as federal reimbursements decrease and Republicans float a variety of changes to ObamaCare. Standard & Poor's Ratings, Moody's Investors Services and Fitch Ratings all predicted that the healthcare world will face challenges in the form of rising costs and uncertainty surrounding the healthcare law. (Viebeck, 12/17)
