Medicare Advantage membership drops project a 10% earnings decline for UnitedHealth

UnitedHealth Group is projected to see a 10% decrease in first-quarter earnings per share. This decline is driven by a 4.5% drop in total domestic market memberships. Medicare Advantage members are projected to decrease 11% year-over-year, while Medicaid memberships are expected to fall 6.4%. Total domestic commercial customers are estimated to decline 2.8%. These membership losses have pushed premium revenues down 0.5% year-over-year. Higher medical utilization has further pressured margins, lifting the medical care ratio to 85.7% from 84.8% in the year-ago quarter. The result is a projected earnings per share of $6.48.