UnitedHealth Profit Rises 13% in Third Quarter

UnitedHealth says results at its government and services businesses were strong in the third quarter, and its profit rose 13 percent to top Wall Street estimates.

The Minnetonka, Minn., company, says it earned $1.04 billion, or 89 cents per share, compared with $920 million, or 75 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue rose 8 percent to $21.7 billion. Thomson Reuters says analysts expected 76 cents per share $21.56 billion in revenue.

UnitedHealth , the largest U.S. health insurer by revenue, says it cut costs, and government businesses like AmeriChoice, Ovations and OptumHealth did well, as did its Ingenix information technology business. High unemployment continued to hurt other businesses.

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