UnitedHealth posts $1.2 Billion quarterly profit

[BR_Parkway]

17 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH - news) on Thursday posted fourth-quarter net earnings of $1.2 billion, but said that because of an ongoing accounting review, year-earlier results were no longer reliable for comparison.


The company, the largest U.S. health insurer by market value, said previously reported operating costs did not correctly reflect noncash stock-based compensation expenses related to historic stock option grants.

UnitedHealth did not provide earnings-per-share figures, but did say it had 1.4 billion diluted weighted-average common shares outstanding in the fourth quarter.

On that basis, earnings were nearly 86 cents per share. Analysts on average expected 85 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070118/bs_nm/unitedhealth_results_dc_2

[Warren Stupidity]

1. 1.2 billion in excess rent extraction from working families.

Health insurance should not be a for-profit operation, it should be a public good. We are way overdue for total reform of our healthcare system.

[Sherman A1]

2. I really enjoyed the

"trying to recover from the stock options scandal" part. Gotta love them CEO thieves.... You can steal much more with a briefcase than a gun......

[OhioChick]

3. I guess the ACN Group

has done wonders for United Health. (Denying Payments)

http://www.acngroup.com/

[BluePatriot]

4. Yep, my insurance co...

which keeps screwing up my claims in their favor and changing in/out of network providers willy nilly...if UHC wasn't provided "free" by my job (at the cost of a few more bucks on my hourly wage I am sure) I wouldn't use them at all.