UHC Reports 13% Revenue Growth in Q2 2023 Due to Rising Enrollment

UnitedHealth Group’s earnings call for the second quarter of 2023 featured revenue growth due to strong performance from the healthcare company’s insurance arm, UnitedHealthcare, and its healthcare services subsidiary, Optum.

“Our diverse health care capabilities and dedicated colleagues are enabling us to meet the needs of more people in more ways, driving substantial growth and expanding our opportunities to serve well into the future,” said Andrew Witty, chief executive officer of UnitedHealth Group.

Executives on the earnings call highlighted the company’s 16 percent growth in second quarter revenue. UnitedHealthcare, specifically, saw a 13 percent increase in revenues, rising to $70.2 billion.

Enrollment growth was a key driver in the health insurer’s revenue growth. Since the second quarter of 2022, UnitedHealthcare’s commercial and public payer medical coverage enrollment grew by 1.1 million enrollees. In the first half of the year alone, commercial enrollment increased by 500,000 enrollees and public payer plan enrollment jumped by 625,000 beneficiaries.

Additionally, over the past year, the number of enrollees covered by value-based care increased. Another 90,000 UnitedHealthcare members are now under value-based contracts, Witty shared on the earnings call.

UnitedHealthcare’s operating margin growth mirrored its margin in the second quarter of 2022. It grew by 13 percent. However, whereas in the second quarter of 2022 operations earnings amounted to $3.9 billion, in 2023 the company earned $4.4 billion from its operations.

Executives named a couple of key challenges such as provider workforce shortages and drug costs, which have plagued the healthcare system in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. UnitedHealthcare has responded by expanding its Optum network and by pursuing biosimilars.

The payer confirmed that care patterns have increased as pent-up demand from the pandemic lockdown continues to normalize.

Executives’ emphasis on biosimilar adoption reflects a growing trend. The day before UnitedHealth Group's earnings call, Cigna announced that it would add four Humira biosimilars to its formularies. Like UnitedHealth Group, Cigna executives underscored biosimilars’ ability to offer strong patient outcomes at lower costs.

Other payers are also responding to the physician shortages by boosting their networks. Earlier in 2023, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts announced the addition of three new physician groups to its network of primary care providers. In addition to expanding its network, the payer emphasized its virtual care options.