<div id="subtitle">UnitedHealth CEO discusses insurer's earnings outlook for 2010</div><div><p>Managed care company UnitedHealth Group Inc. reported a 30 percent jump in fourth-quarter profit Thursday, due in part to a big legal charge it took in the last quarter of 2008.</p><p>The Minnetonka, Minn., insurer also said its commercial enrollment losses have slowed, and its Medicare and Medicaid businesses grew by big margins. The insurer raised its revenue guidance for 2010 slightly, to more than $90 billion. But it did not change its earnings guidance of $2.90 to $3.10 per share.</p><p>CEO Stephen J. Hemsley explained the approach.</p><p>QUESTION: Can you explain what offsets the positive developments so that you're not increasing guidance? Is it just conservatism?</p><p>RESPONSE: I would point out that it is January, and let me then reaffirm what I would say those headwinds are. This is an economic environment that is unparalleled in our lifetime. We have meaningful rate pressures in the Medicare and Medicaid environment.</p><p>We have the loss of lock-in pricing in the Prescription Solutions business. We had a number of unforeseen obstacles at this time when we entered 2009, and we have no sense of what will be coming down the road.</p><p>So I think it's quite early for us to offer any indication, other than that environment has not changed from about a month ago when we had our Investor Day, and that environment is quite challenging. We have a lot of work to do in 2010 to hit the guidance that we've offered.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=67456524&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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