Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealth Group posted $13.3 billion in full-year 2016 earnings from operations, a 20.5 percent increase from the same period last year.
The company recorded better-than-expected full-year revenues of $184.8 billion, a year-over-year increase of 17.6 percent. UnitedHealth attributed revenue growth to growing market demand for its product and service offerings.
UnitedHealth's Optum business — including OptumHealth, OptumInsight and OptumRx — saw full-year revenue grow 23.7 percent year-over-year to $83.6 billion. Optum and Deerfield, Ill.-based Surgical Care Affiliates announced merger plans earlier this year, with the transaction slated to close in the first half of 2017.
Full-year 2016 revenue attributable to UnitedHealthcare grew 13.1 percent from the same period last year to $148.6 billion. The number of individuals with UnitedHealthcare policies grew by 2.2 million year-over-year in 2016 due to growth in the insurer's commercial, Medicare and Medicaid offerings.
In the fourth quarter of this year, UnitedHealth recorded net earnings of $1.9 billion, up 53 percent from the same period last year.
UnitedHealth reaffirmed its 2017 financial outlook of estimated revenues of $197 billion to $199 billion and adjusted net earnings in the range of $9.30 to $9.60 per share.