14 July 2021
Corporate America is expecting big jumps in profits in the second quarter. That's especially the case in health care, an industry that didn't really lose a lot of financial momentum throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
The bottom line: Health care spending is basically back to pre-COVID levels. Expect big numbers across the board.
What to watch: Medical loss ratios, the industry jargon for the percentage of premiums that health insurers pay out in medical claims.
- This statistic is always closely watched because it's the engine of the industry.
- Higher-than-expected ratios mean people are getting more care; which means more money being paid by insurers to hospitals, nursing homes, drug companies, device makers. etc.. That trickles down in the form of more money to spend on technology, consultants and other vendors.
- In the same way, lower-than-expected MLRs last year from patients delaying care was a financial boon for insurers.
- UnitedHealth Group, which posted a historically profitable 2020 and is on pace to surpass that total this year, will kick off the industry's earnings season Thursday.
Between the lines: Wall Street estimates MLRs will be elevated compared with last year, considering COVID cases have decreased and more people are getting procedures and seeing their doctors.
- Pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies also will benefit from more filled prescriptions and vaccines.
- Wall Street expects UnitedHealth's MLR was 83% in the second quarter.
Yes, but: Health insurers are still expected to report sizable earnings.
- They aren't paying for as many COVID hospitalizations, which are down significantly from last year and the start of the year, as more people got vaccinated.
- And while hospitals and other providers are seeing more patients, the industry isn't assuming a full return to pre-COVID patient volumes until the fourth quarter of this year, according to analysts at Mizuho Securities.
Go deeper: Follow our health care earnings tracker
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.