UnitedHealth Group 2024 Profits Hit $14 Billion Despite Cyberattack, Rising Costs
UnitedHealth Group reported $14.4 billion in 2024 profits including $5.5 billion in the fourth quarter as its portfolio of health insurance and provider services overcame rising medical expenses and an historic cyberattack on its businesses.
The company’s annual net income — the lowest in five years — dropped from more than $22 billion in 2023 as the company grappled with a costly cyberattack on its Change Healthcare business. Meanwhile, the company experienced higher-than-normal costs in its health insurance plans from treating a surge of patients, particularly seniors in Medicare Advantage plans.
UnitedHealth Group, a nationwide provider of medical care services under the Optum umbrella and a company that manages and pays for benefits through its UnitedHealthcare health insurance plans, said 2024 revenue jumped 8% — or more than $28 billion — to $400.3 billion, driven by “serving more people more comprehensively across the enterprise,” the company said Thursday. For the fourth quarter, UnitedHealth reported $5.5 billion in net income as revenue increased to $100 billion from $94.4 billion in the year-ago period.
Thursday’s report on the 2024 annual and fourth-quarter profits at UnitedHealth Group came a month after one of the company’s executives was shot dead on the street in New York City before he was to attend the healthcare giant’s annual investors meeting.
On Thursday, UnitedHealth affirmed the 2025 performance outlook established last month that included revenues of $450 billion to $455 billion and net earnings of “$28.15 to $28.65 per share, adjusted net earnings of $29.50 to $30.00 per share and cash flow from operations of $32 billion to $33 billion,” the company said.
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Aside from the shocking death of UnitedHealthcare Chief Executive Brian Thompson, UnitedHealth endured one of the nation’s largest cyberattacks on a U.S. company. Thursday’s earnings report showed the cyberattack cost the company’s UnitedHealthcare and Optum businesses more than $3 billion combined last year.