UnitedHealth reported fourth-quarter results on Thursday that reflected persistent challenges for the health insurance sector.

The Federal Trade Commission said three top pharmacy suppliers made profits of 7,700 percent on a lifesaving hypertension drug.

A new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report found that the three largest Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) have taken in large profits on lifesaving medicine for heart disease, cancer and HIV. Pharmacy Benefit Managers are third-party companies connected to pharmacies that are intermediaries between insurance providers and pharmaceutical manufacturers and claim to reduce consumer costs.

But high medical costs contributed to results that disappointed Wall Street, and the company’s stock fell on the news that it had made less than analysts expected.

Units of CVS Health Corp., Cigna Group and UnitedHealth Group Inc. charged significantly more than the national average acquisition cost for dozens of specialty generic drugs, bringing in more than $7.

Between 2017 and 2022, UnitedHealth Group’s Optum, Cigna’s Express Scripts and CVS Health’s CVS Caremark marked up their prices by hundreds — and in some cases, thousands — of percent, resulting in $7.3 billion in revenue above cost.

UnitedHealth, the biggest insurance company in America, is receiving backlash after an FTC report revealed that it was overcharging cancer patients by 1000%.

Health insurance companies gained today with shares of Humana Inc. ( NYSE:HUM ), UnitedHealth Group ( NYSE:UNH) and CVS Health ( NYSE:CVS) are on the market movers list among top gainers. Government proposal that potentially raised payments for Medicare Advantage plans in 2026 was said to be the main reason for the increase.

Patient Capital Management, a value investing firm, released its “Patient Capital Opportunity Equity Strategy” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. During the quarter,

Witty's comments came during the company's first earnings call since the killing of Brian Thompson, the CEO of the company's insurance arm UnitedHealthcare.

From 2017 to 2022, the companies marked up prices at their pharmacies by hundreds or thousands of percent, netting them $7.3 billion in revenue.

Shares of health insurance companies are trading higher after The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed a rise to Medicare Advantage payments.