Transcript
Introduction
Zack
I'm Zack Fuss and today we're tackling a giant and a controversial and incredibly complex industry: the UnitedHealth Group. At its recent apex, UNH was a half-trillion-dollar market cap business, the 15th largest listed business in the United States. Today that market cap sits at just $275 billion.
The company does in excess of $400 billion in sales annually and produces $40 billion in EBITDA as it touches every facet of the American healthcare system. To break down UnitedHealth, I'm joined by Stephanie Niven, a co-portfolio manager of the Global Sustainable Equity Strategy within the Sustainable Equity team at Ninety One. Stephanie has been following the company since 2012 and she will help us to unravel this intricate business.
We'll explore how UnitedHealth operates as a fully integrated healthcare system from its insurance arm, UnitedHealthcare, its namesake, to its high-margin health services business, Optum. We'll provide a breakdown of the unique and often inefficient US healthcare ecosystem that UnitedHealth navigates and how the company has built a powerful flywheel to drive growth and address systemic shortcomings in providing care. We'll also dive into the concept of value-based care, the recent headwinds from Medicare Advantage scrutiny, and whether the market is mispricing this complex giant.