"Medicare Advantage Rates Wreak Havoc on Health Insurer Stocks"

Shares of U.S. health insurers, including CVS Health, UnitedHealth Group, Elevance Health, Centene, and Humana, fell after the Biden administration announced that government payments to Medicare Advantage plans are expected to rise 3.7% year over year, effectively a 0.16% decline after stripping out certain assumptions. This disappointment puts pressure on insurers already grappling with high medical costs and uncertainty around claims processing after the cyberattack on UnitedHealth Group's tech unit, dealing a blow to Medicare Advantage businesses, which have long driven growth and profits for the insurance industry.