Latest news with #JohnTozzi
Mint
12 hours ago
- Business
- Mint
Centene Slashes 2025 Guidance and Posts Surprise Loss
(Bloomberg) -- Centene Corp. cut its annual guidance and reported a surprise quarterly loss Friday, yet another disappointment for the embattled health insurer that's been grappling with problems in its Affordable Care Act business. The company now expects adjusted earnings of $1.75 a share in 2025, far less than the more than $7.25 a share it projected earlier in the year. The figure could fall even further, to $1.25 a share, depending on the progress Centene makes in its Medicaid business. Centene had pulled its 2025 guidance earlier this month, citing precipitously rising risks in the ACA business. Since then, the company's struggles seem to have heightened. At the time it said insurance market trends that veered from its assumptions threatened $1.8 billion in revenue, while Friday it increased that figure to $2.4 billion based on more data. Shares dropped as much as 16% before markets opened in New York Friday though later pared losses. They had fallen 56% since the start of the year through Thursday's close. The insurer chalked up the second-quarter loss to a miscalculation in its Affordable Care Act, or ACA, business — the same reason it pulled its outlook earlier this year. Insurers receive compensation for taking on sicker patients in that program and Centene said it would receive less of that money than previously expected. For the second quarter, Centene announced an adjusted loss per share of 16 cents. Wall Street analysts expected a profit of 55 cents per share. 'We are disappointed by our second-quarter results, but we have a clear understanding of the trends that have impacted our performance, and are working with urgency and focus to restore our earnings trajectory,' Sarah London, chief executive officer of Centene, said in the company's earnings statement. In the second quarter, Centene spent 93% of premium revenues of medical costs, higher than the average analyst expectation of 91.6%. Investors prefer a lower number. The insurer said its health benefits ratio, the percentage of premium revenues spent on medical costs, rose from last year, largely because of the ACA revenue issue. Centene said it also saw higher medical costs in ACA plans, as well as increased costs in Medicaid, which mostly came from behavioral health, home health, and expensive drugs. Because of various government programs that are likely to reduce health care coverage, patients may be seeking more medical care now while they still can, boosting medical spending, the company said in a regulatory filing Friday. --With assistance from John Tozzi. (Updates with guidance starting in first paragraph.) More stories like this are available on
Mint
4 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Centene Earnings Fall Short of Expectations as Woes Mount
(Bloomberg) -- Centene Corp. reported a surprise quarterly loss Friday, yet another disappointment for the embattled health insurer, which recently pulled its 2025 guidance citing revenue pressure. Shares dropped 11% before markets opened in New York. They had fallen 56% since the start of the year. Centene said it would provide updated guidance on a conference call with analysts, which starts at 8 a.m. New York time. The insurer chalked up the second-quarter loss to a miscalculation in its Affordable Care Act business — the same reason it pulled guidance earlier this year. Insurers receive compensation for taking on sicker patients in that program and Centene said it would receive less of that money than it had previously expected. For the second quarter, Centene announced an adjusted loss per share of 16 cents. Wall Street analysts expected a profit of 55 cents per share. 'We are disappointed by our second quarter results, but we have a clear understanding of the trends that have impacted our performance, and are working with urgency and focus to restore our earnings trajectory,' Sarah London, chief executive officer of Centene, said in the company's earnings statement. In the second quarter, the company spent 93% of premium revenues of medical costs, higher than the average analyst expectation of 91.6%. Investors prefer a lower number. The company said its health benefits ratio, the percentage of premium revenues spent on medical costs, rose from last year, largely because of the ACA revenue issue. Centene said it also saw higher medical costs in ACA plans, as well as increased costs in Medicaid, which mostly came from behavioral health, home health, and expensive drugs. --With assistance from John Tozzi. (Updates with new information throughout.) More stories like this are available on
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
UnitedHealth is Responding to Civil, Criminal DOJ Probes
UnitedHealth Group Inc. is responding to criminal and civil requests from the US Department of Justice about its Medicare practices, the company said, confirming reports of probes that have added to mounting challenges for the largest US health insurer. Bloomberg's John Tozzi reports. (Source: Bloomberg)
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Centene Is Sinking the Most in 19 Years
Centene withdrew its profit outlook due to rising risks from Affordable Care Act plans, causing its shares to plummet. John Tozzi has more on "Bloomberg Open Interest."
Bloomberg
21-05-2025
- Health
- Bloomberg
Cigna Offers New Weight-Loss Drug Pricing Plan to Boost Use
By and John Tozzi Updated on Save Cigna Group 's drug benefit unit is offering a new way for health plans to cover expensive weight-loss drugs that it says will make the medicines available to more patients. Under the new option, patients would pay less than the cash price for Eli Lilly & Co.'s Zepbound or Novo Nordisk A/S 's Wegovy, but typically more than the normal copay. Meanwhile, health plans would spend less on the weight loss drugs than under the standard structure, an incentive to get more employers to cover them.
