Health insurer stocks have come under pressure after UnitedHealth Group warned of higher medical costs as older Americans start to catch up on surgeries they delayed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Insurance companies have benefited in recent years from a delay in non-urgent procedures, but that trend may be reversing.
The company has recorded “strong outpatient care activity” throughout April, May and the early part of June, Chief Financial Officer John Rex said at a Goldman Sachs health-care conference.