TD Cowen downgrades UnitedHealth on changes to Medicare Advantage

19-05-2025

TD Cowen is moving to the sidelines on UnitedHealth . The firm downgraded the health insurance giant to hold from buy and trimmed its price target $308 per share from $520. TD Cowen's new forecast implies about 6% upside from Friday's close. Analyst Ryan Langston said changes to the V28 Medicare Advantage model could serve as a lingering headwind over UnitedHealth. "We believe v28 risk model changes are disproportionally impacting UNH given outsized RAF [risk adjustment factor] scores vs industry and 2026 is further effected with the year 3 phase-in," Langston said. "Accelerating MA cost trend with potential increases in commercial/Medicaid as well as recent regulatory scrutiny further complicate the story." Langston's call comes during a rough period for UnitedHealth. The company announced last week that CEO Andrew Witty stepped down for "personal reasons" and suspended its 2025 guidance . On top of that, The Wall Street Journal reported that the company was the subject of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation . Shares have plummeted more than 42% in 2025. Last week alone, it dropped over 23%. UNH YTD mountain UnitedHealth stock. "UNH correctly foreshadowed accelerating cost trend in mid-2023. If this accelerating activity were to materialize in Commercial and/or Medicaid (to be clear, UNH says that is not currently the case), we see further potential downside risk to consensus estimates," the analyst added. Despite the downgrade, shares were up more than 4% in the premarket. .

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Colorado calls special session to address cuts due to "big, beautiful bill"

Axios

2 hours ago

Axios

Colorado calls special session to address cuts due to "big, beautiful bill"

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is calling a special legislative session for later this month to fix a $1 billion budget shortfall and clarify the state's artificial intelligence law. Why it matters: The Democratic-majority Legislature must plug a massive budget hole while shoring up Medicaid coverage, food assistance programs and insurance subsidies disrupted by President Trump's reconciliation bill. State of play: The special session starting Aug. 27 comes three months after the regular term ended, but state lawmakers face a completely new fiscal outlook with the passage of H.R. 1, dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The session will take at least three days — the minimum required to pass a bill in Colorado — but will likely last longer. By the numbers: Colorado's current budget is $783 million short, according to a revised estimate from the governor's budget chief. Polis announced a hiring freeze on Wednesday effective Sept. 1 through the end of the year to save at least $3 million in state expenditures. The intrigue: Even before the federal bill, lawmaker faced a spending pinch this year — one so deep that they cut roughly $30 million set aside for potential special sessions. The other side: Republican lawmakers expressed frustration that it took the governor so long to fix the budget. "I'm just bamboozled with what's going on," Rep. Rick Taggart (R-Grand Junction) said at a budget hearing earlier this week.

Planned Parenthood to close Louisiana clinics

The Hill

3 hours ago

The Hill

Planned Parenthood to close Louisiana clinics

Planned Parenthood will close its two clinics in Louisiana on Sept. 30 as the organization faces funding challenges under President Trump's 'big, beautiful' tax and spending package. Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast President Melany Linton said in a statement the Louisiana closures are a 'direct result of relentless political assaults.' 'This is not a decision we wanted to make; it is one we were forced into by political warfare. Anti-reproductive health lawmakers obsessed with power and control have spent decades fighting the concept that people deserve to control their own bodies,' she wrote. She added that 'extremists' lawmakers have done everything in their power to try and 'defund' Planned Parenthood and dismantle public health infrastructure and prevent Americans from receiving needed health care. 'Every health center closure, every patient who goes without care, every undetected cancer and untreated infection is on those lawmakers' hands.' Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill (R) called the clinic closures 'welcome news' on a post to the social media platform X. 'Planned Parenthood built its business around promoting death. Louisiana chooses life. We will always protect women and babies.' Anti-abortion groups also celebrated the news. 'Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry are leaving Louisiana. But the pro-life movement is here to stay. We will always love and serve both mom and baby,' said Benjamin Clapper, executive director of Louisiana Right to Life, in a statement. Under a provision in the GOP megabill, non-profit organizations that offer abortions and received more than $800,000 in federal funding in 2023 are barred from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for one year. The provision primarily targets Planned Parenthood. The organization estimates that up to 200 clinics across 24 states are at risk of closing, with 90 percent of those clinics located in states where abortion is protected and legal. The organization is not allowed to provide abortions in Louisiana, but it did help patients access out-of-state abortions. The Baton Rouge and New Orleans clinics provide Louisianans with other reproductive and primary health care including birth control, cancer screenings and sexually transmitted infection testing, and treatment. Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast said the two Louisiana health centers provided 17,791 visits for 10,627 patients last year – including nearly 30,000 STD tests, more than 14,000 birth control visits, 1,795 cancer screenings, and 655 ultrasounds among other preventive sexual and reproductive health services.

Novo CFO: US Wegovy, Ozempic Prices to Keep Falling

Yahoo

3 hours ago

Yahoo

Novo CFO: US Wegovy, Ozempic Prices to Keep Falling

The maker of Ozempic and Wegovy obesity drugs said some of the prices could come down, as President Trump called for drugmakers to immediately lower their prices for Medicaid. This comes as Novo Nordisk's sales showed the weakest growth in four years as the Danish drugmaker loses ground to Eli Lilly in the crucial US market for obesity drugs. Karsten Munk Knudsen spoke with Bloomberg's Francine Lacqua from Copenhagen.