1057 ET - UnitedHealth Group's 1Q report was a big surprise for investors and analysts who thought the company had properly accounted for higher care costs in its 2025 insurance rates, Edward Jones analyst John Boylan says in a research note. Clearly that wasn't the case, with costs even rising in its healthcare services business Optum, which rarely offers much drama, the analyst says. Those Optum costs seem to be high because members were using more services than expected compared with last year, Boylan says. He believes the company can return to the kind of growth rates it's used to seeing, but it may take longer than previously anticipated, the analyst says. UnitedHealth slides 22%. (dean.seal@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 17, 2025 10:57 ET (14:57 GMT)
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