Key Figure at UnitedHealth Group Was Major Obama Donor

Late last week, the Obama administration named Quality Software Services Inc. (QSSI) to be the new general contractor in charge of the emergency operation to fix the glitches plaguing the government's healthcare website. QSSI is a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group Inc, the health insurance giant that has lobbied extensively on issues relating to the federal healthcare overhaul -- and also happens to employ a key donor to President Obama.

Executive vice president of UnitedHealth Group, and his family has gone all out for Obama. During the 2008 election cycle, his wife Beatrice bundled donations totaling between $200,000 and $500,000 for Obama's campaign. In 2009, the two were among the president's top inaugural donors, contributing a total of $100,000, as well as bundling an additional $300,000 for the festivities. Soon thereafter, the Obama administration nominated Beatrice Welters to serve as the ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago. Read more.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.28

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 8th, AnalystRatingsNetwork reports. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share on Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%.

A number of research firms have recently commented on UNH. Analysts at Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note to investors on Tuesday. On the ratings front, analysts at TheStreet reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note to investors on Monday. Finally, analysts at Zacks reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note to investors on Friday, October 18th. They now have a $75.00 price target on the stock. Read more.

Will a Shake up at the Top Give the Obamacare Website a Much Needed Boost?

It's been a little more than five weeks since the live launch of Obamacare's health insurance exchanges, and, speaking for the majority of folks who've attempted to navigate the glitch-filled federal website, it's been a nightmare.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH  ) subsidiary Optum, which owns Quality Software Services, or QSSI, is also receiving its share of blame. The company was an intermediary party whose software was used to verify that health care plans met the stringent requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Optum Group Executive Vice President Andrew Slavitt testified that its Data Services Hub was functioning properly upon launch of Healthcare.gov, but encountered issues because it had to interface with connections from multiple other contractors. UnitedHealth Group is large enough that it won't see much of a share price bump in either direction from QSSI's involvement. Read more.

 

Top U.S. insurer sees weak Obamacare sign-ups, prepares for delay

A top U.S. health insurer gave the first detailed view of how the problem-plagued rollout of President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law is affecting the industry, saying on Wednesday it had cut its enrollment forecasts by at least a half and expected the government to delay the sign-up deadline.

Humana Inc said that because of technical problems preventing millions of Americans from accessing the federal HealthCare.gov website since it opened on Oct. 1, the company had slashed its expectations of signing on 500,000 new plan members to an estimate of closer to 250,000.

The open enrollment period ends on March 31, and Republican and Democratic lawmakers are asking the Obama administration to give people more time to sign up for plans offered in online marketplaces. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius rejected the idea at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. Read more.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated Interesting March 2014

Consistently, one of the more popular stocks people enter into their stock options watchlist at Stock Options Channel is UnitedHealth Group Inc (NYSE: UNH). So this week we highlight one interesting put contract, and one interesting call contract, from the March 2014 expiration for UNH. The put contract our YieldBoost algorithm.
Read more on this.

Priced at 12.39x this year’s forecasted earnings, UNH shares are relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 9.84x forward p/e ratio. And for passive income investors, the company pays shareholders $1.12 per share annually in dividends, yielding 1.60%.

Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 21 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $1.40 per share, which would be $0.20 better than the year-ago quarter and a $0.03 sequential decrease. The full-year EPS estimate is $5.49, which would be a $0.21 better than last year. Read more.

Doctor Shortage Could Ease As Obamacare Boosts Nurses, Physician Assistants

Though a physician shortage appears inevitable as more Americans get health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, new research indicates new primary care models using nurse practitioners and physician assistants could “eliminate” the scarcity of primary-care doctors.

Researchers at the nonprofit research organization RAND Corp. say an expansion of patient-centered medical homes and “nurse-managed” health centers  “could help eliminate 50 percent or more of the primary care physician shortage” in the U.S. by 2025.

“Projections suggest that if nothing changes in the delivery of primary care, the United States may face a substantial shortage of primary care physicians and surpluses of nurse practitioners and physician assistants by 2025,” researchers wrote. “Yet plausible shifts in primary care delivery models substantially affect those projections. Read more.

More Than 300 Youth Participate in First-Ever UnitedHealthcare

More than 300 youth participated in today's UnitedHealthcare Panama City IRONKIDS Fun Run, which took place in advance of this weekend's IRONMAN event. The one mile "fun run" promoted fitness and health among youth with UnitedHealthcare Medicaid CEO Steve Nelson and company mascot helping lead the participants in exercises and stretches before the race.

The young athletes, aged 3 to 15, had the opportunity to run a portion of the IRONMAN Run Course Read more.