Insurance company Humana forecasts annual profits below estimates

(Reuters) – Humana (ham) forecast annual profits below Tuesday’s Wall Street estimates, signaling that costs from government-backed plans for older Americans will remain upward for the rest of the year.

The company’s shares fell 5% to $253.20 due to volatile pre-market trading.

Health insurance companies are the top providers of Medicare Advantage Plans, and the US government pays fees set for private insurers to manage health care for people over the age of 65 or with disabilities. We have struggled with rising healthcare costs over the past few quarters.

According to data compiled by LSEG, the company is looking at adjusted earnings per share of approximately $16.25 compared to an analyst’s estimate of $16.71 per share.

On an adjusted basis, Humana reported a fourth quarter loss of $2.16 per share, in line with analyst estimates.

(Reporting by Sripalna Roy of Bengaluru, edited by Pooja Desai)