UnitedHealth fell less than 1 percent today to $61.53 at 3:29 p.m. New York time. Humana fell less than 1 percent to $79.28. UnitedHealth shares rose 14 percent this year through yesterday, while Humana gained 16 percent.
Health Costs
U.S. health-care costs grew at an average annual rate of about 3 percent from 2009 to 2011, measured on a per capita basis, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That’s less than half the rate in 2007, and a third of the rate in 1990. Economists are debating whether the slowdown in spending is mostly an outgrowth of the recession of 2008-2009 or if more permanent changes, including efficiency and care improvements at hospitals, have played a large role.
A policy change in April by the Obama administration may also have influenced the CBO’s projections, Antos said. The administration backtracked on a proposed 2.2 percent cut in payments to Advantage plans that was based on an assumed reduction in doctor compensation. The rate will now rise 3.3 percent next fiscal year.
The Advantage program “has proven too important to undermine and we expect the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, along with stakeholders, to eventually identify an appropriate level of funding to support sustainable” membership growth,’’ Lynch wrote in her note.