Jan 21, 2021
UnitedHealth’s fourth-quarter earnings tumbled as costs from COVID-19 hit the health insurance provider, but results still easily beat expectations.
Health care use rebounded in the final quarter of 2020 after the global pandemic kept people away from doctor offices and surgery centers when it first spread earlier last year.
UnitedHealth also said Wednesday that its insurance business spent more in the quarter covering claims for COVID-19 testing and treatment. They accounted for 11 percent of all care activity, not counting prescriptions. That’s up from 6 percent in the third quarter.
Medical costs, by far the company’s largest expense, jumped 7 percent to more than $42 billion in the fourth quarter.