Project Manager - Marketing Operations
About the job
- At least 4 years of project management experience.
- At least 1 year of experience supporting marketing, communications, advertising, or campaign-related initiatives.
- Experience managing multiple projects and working with diverse stakeholder groups.
- Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced and deadline-driven environment.
- Solid communication, presentation, and organizational skills.
- Solid problem-solving and decision-making capabilities.
- Manage end-to-end delivery of marketing campaigns and communications for B2B and B2C audiences.
- Coordinate with marketing, creative, analytics, data, digital, and print teams to ensure smooth project execution.
- Create and manage project plans, timelines, deliverables, risks, and dependencies.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for stakeholders and provide regular project status updates.
- Lead project kickoff meetings and ensure alignment across teams.
- Track project progress using project management tools such as Workfront or similar platforms.
- Monitor project quality, compliance, approvals, and delivery requirements.
- Identify and resolve issues that could impact timelines, quality, or business outcomes.
- Maintain project documentation, reports, and communication throughout the project lifecycle.
- Continuously improve processes, workflows, and team efficiency.
- Adapt to changing priorities, business needs, and new technologies.
- Comply with the employment contract, company policies and procedures, and applicable directives, including possible transfers or reassignment to different work locations, changes in teams or shifts, and changes to work arrangements or work environment.
- Experience with Workfront or other project management tools.
- Experience supporting B2B and B2C marketing campaigns.
- Experience working with creative, digital, data, analytics, or marketing teams.
- Experience identifying workflow challenges and implementing process improvements.
- Familiarity with quality assurance, compliance, and approval processes.
Optum is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. The work you do with our team will directly improve health outcomes by connecting people with the care, pharmacy benefits, data and resources they need to feel their best. Here, you will find a culture guided by inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health optimization on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.
As a Project Manager - Marketing Operations, you will lead the planning and execution of marketing communications and campaigns across multiple channels, including email, print, and digital platforms. You will work closely with marketing, creative, data, analytics, and delivery teams to ensure projects are completed on time, within scope, and with high quality.
This role is ideal for someone who enjoys managing multiple projects, coordinating cross-functional teams, solving problems, and driving results in a fast-paced environment.
Primary Responsibilities\:
- Manage end-to-end delivery of marketing campaigns and communications for B2B and B2C audiences
- Coordinate with marketing, creative, analytics, data, digital, and print teams to ensure smooth project execution
- Create and manage project plans, timelines, deliverables, risks, and dependencies
- Serve as the primary point of contact for stakeholders and provide regular project status updates
- Lead project kickoff meetings and ensure alignment across teams
- Track project progress using project management tools such as Workfront or similar platforms
- Monitor project quality, compliance, approvals, and delivery requirements
- Identify and resolve issues that could impact timelines, quality, or business outcomes
- Maintain project documentation, reports, and communication throughout the project lifecycle
- Continuously improve processes, workflows, and team efficiency
- Quickly adapt to changing priorities, business needs, and new technologies
- Comply with the terms and conditions of the employment contract, company policies and procedures, and any and all directives (such as, but not limited to, transfer and/or re-assignment to different work locations, change in teams and/or work shifts, policies in regards to flexibility of work benefits and/or work environment, alternative work arrangements, and other decisions that may arise due to the changing business environment). The Company may adopt, vary or rescind these policies and directives in its absolute discretion and without any limitation (implied or otherwise) on its ability to do so
Key Success Measures\:
- Deliver marketing projects on time and within agreed scope
- Maintain high-quality standards and compliance requirements
- Provide clear visibility into project status, risks, and mitigation plans
- Effectively manage multiple priorities and stakeholder expectations
- Drive operational efficiency and continuous process improvement
- Build solid relationships with cross-functional teams and business partners
Optum is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. The work you do with our team will directly improve health outcomes by connecting people with the care, pharmacy benefits, data and resources they need to feel their best. Here, you will find a culture guided by inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health optimization on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.
As a Project Manager - Marketing Operations, you will lead the planning and execution of marketing communications and campaigns across multiple channels, including email, print, and digital platforms. You will work closely with marketing, creative, data, analytics, and delivery teams to ensure projects are completed on time, within scope, and with high quality.
This role is ideal for someone who enjoys managing multiple projects, coordinating cross-functional teams, solving problems, and driving results in a fast-paced environment.
Primary Responsibilities\:
- Manage end-to-end delivery of marketing campaigns and communications for B2B and B2C audiences
- Coordinate with marketing, creative, analytics, data, digital, and print teams to ensure smooth project execution
- Create and manage project plans, timelines, deliverables, risks, and dependencies
- Serve as the primary point of contact for stakeholders and provide regular project status updates
- Lead project kickoff meetings and ensure alignment across teams
- Track project progress using project management tools such as Workfront or similar platforms
- Monitor project quality, compliance, approvals, and delivery requirements
- Identify and resolve issues that could impact timelines, quality, or business outcomes
- Maintain project documentation, reports, and communication throughout the project lifecycle
- Continuously improve processes, workflows, and team efficiency
- Quickly adapt to changing priorities, business needs, and new technologies
- Comply with the terms and conditions of the employment contract, company policies and procedures, and any and all directives (such as, but not limited to, transfer and/or re-assignment to different work locations, change in teams and/or work shifts, policies in regards to flexibility of work benefits and/or work environment, alternative work arrangements, and other decisions that may arise due to the changing business environment). The Company may adopt, vary or rescind these policies and directives in its absolute discretion and without any limitation (implied or otherwise) on its ability to do so
Key Success Measures\:
- Deliver marketing projects on time and within agreed scope
- Maintain high-quality standards and compliance requirements
- Provide clear visibility into project status, risks, and mitigation plans
- Effectively manage multiple priorities and stakeholder expectations
- Drive operational efficiency and continuous process improvement
- Build solid relationships with cross-functional teams and business partners
Required Qualifications\:
- 4+ years of Project Management experience
- 1+ years of experience supporting marketing, communications, advertising, or campaign-related initiatives
- Experience managing multiple projects and working with diverse stakeholder groups
- Proven ability to work effectively in a fast-paced and deadline-driven environment
- Proven solid communication, presentation, and organizational skills
- Proven solid problem-solving and decision-making capabilities
Preferred Qualifications\:
- Experience with Workfront or other project management tools
- Experience supporting B2B and B2C marketing campaigns
- Experience working with creative, digital, data, analytics, or marketing teams
- Experience identifying workflow challenges and implementing process improvements
- Familiarity with quality assurance, compliance, and approval processes
Desired Skills & Traits\:
- Proactive and self-motivated
- Solid attention to detail and organizational skills
- Comfortable managing ambiguity and changing priorities
- Collaborative team player with excellent stakeholder management skills
- Results-oriented mindset with a focus on business outcomes
- Continuous learner who embraces new tools and ways of working
At UnitedHealth Group, our mission is to help people live healthier lives and make the health system work better for everyone. We believe everyone–of every race, gender, sexuality, age, location and income–deserves the opportunity to live their healthiest life. Today, however, there are still far too many barriers to good health which are disproportionately experienced by people of color, historically marginalized groups and those with lower incomes. We are committed to mitigating our impact on the environment and enabling and delivering equitable care that addresses health disparities and improves health outcomes — an enterprise priority reflected in our mission.
Required Qualifications\:
- 4+ years of Project Management experience
- 1+ years of experience supporting marketing, communications, advertising, or campaign-related initiatives
- Experience managing multiple projects and working with diverse stakeholder groups
- Proven ability to work effectively in a fast-paced and deadline-driven environment
- Proven solid communication, presentation, and organizational skills
- Proven solid problem-solving and decision-making capabilities
Preferred Qualifications\:
- Experience with Workfront or other project management tools
- Experience supporting B2B and B2C marketing campaigns
- Experience working with creative, digital, data, analytics, or marketing teams
- Experience identifying workflow challenges and implementing process improvements
- Familiarity with quality assurance, compliance, and approval processes
Desired Skills & Traits\:
- Proactive and self-motivated
- Solid attention to detail and organizational skills
- Comfortable managing ambiguity and changing priorities
- Collaborative team player with excellent stakeholder management skills
- Results-oriented mindset with a focus on business outcomes
- Continuous learner who embraces new tools and ways of working
At UnitedHealth Group, our mission is to help people live healthier lives and make the health system work better for everyone. We believe everyone–of every race, gender, sexuality, age, location and income–deserves the opportunity to live their healthiest life. Today, however, there are still far too many barriers to good health which are disproportionately experienced by people of color, historically marginalized groups and those with lower incomes. We are committed to mitigating our impact on the environment and enabling and delivering equitable care that addresses health disparities and improves health outcomes — an enterprise priority reflected in our mission.
Tell us about a friend who might be interested in this job. All privacy rights will be protected.About the company
UnitedHealth Group runs health insurance and clinical care services for individuals, employers and government programs through UnitedHealthcare and Optum. UnitedHealthcare sells medical benefits for working people, retirees and people covered by public programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. Optum operates medical practices, manages prescription drug benefits and builds software that helps healthcare organizations handle clinical and administrative work. The group earns revenue from insurance premiums, care contracts, pharmacy products and service fees. UnitedHealth Group was incorporated in 1977 and is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Company Size
10,001+
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
Eden Prairie, Minnesota
Founded
1977
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- UnitedHealth generates cash for reinvestment: July 2026 results reported $11.1 billion in second-quarter operating cash flow.
- Career paths span care and technology: UnitedHealth lists clinical, data, business operations and support career areas.
- Optum Insight diversifies buyers: its software services target health plans, providers, governments and life sciences companies.
What critics are saying
- UnitedHealth restructuring affects jobs: January 2026 results disclosed $746 million for late-2025 workforce cuts and property consolidation.
- Optum carries unprofitable contracts: January 2026 results disclosed $623 million reserved for relationships it cannot exit during 2026.
- UnitedHealthcare absorbs care-cost increases: insurance premiums typically stay fixed per person for a year.
What makes UnitedHealth Group unique
- UnitedHealth connects care spending to finance: Optum Financial runs health accounts and payments to medical providers.
- UnitedHealth combines technology with clinical scale: its 2025 workforce included nearly 165,000 clinical professionals.
- Optum Rx promises predictable drug spending: Clear Trend Guarantee combines pharmacy cost guarantees into one per-member price.
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- Flexible Work Hours
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
-10%1 year growth
-8%2 year growth
-8%Kaiser tops U.S. News' best Medicare Advantage list. Kaiser Permanente leads the 2027 list of best Medicare Advantage companies from U.S. News & World Report, with an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5. UnitedHealthcare, Humana, Aetna and Devoted Health round out the top tier, each rated 3.8, according to the ratings published Oct. 14. The ratings matter because they arrive at the start of Medicare's annual open enrollment, which runs Oct. 15 through Dec. 7, when beneficiaries compare plans. They also offer a second, independently weighted view of insurer quality alongside CMS's Star Ratings released earlier in October. The best Medicare Advantage companies for 2027. U.S. News named five companies as best overall for Medicare Advantage: * Kaiser Permanente: 4.4 * UnitedHealthcare: 3.8 * Humana: 3.8 * Aetna: 3.8 * Devoted Health: 3.8 Three of the five, Aetna, Devoted Health and UnitedHealth Group, were also named best Medicare Advantage companies in the 2026 edition, according to U.S. News' 2026 announcement. Kaiser Permanente and Humana are new to the top list for 2027. U.S. News also recognized top companies in three consumer-focused categories: highest satisfaction, screening and prevention, and care continuity. How U.S. News rated insurers. U.S. News rates Medicare Advantage contracts on a five-point scale, assigning its own weights to more than 30 quality measures published by CMS. Those weights do not necessarily match the ones CMS uses for Star Ratings. U.S. News then calculates an enrollment-adjusted average rating for each company. To be named among the best, a company needed an overall rating of at least 3.8 after rounding and had to serve at least 1,000 beneficiaries as of December 2025 in each of 10 or more states or territories where it still offers coverage for 2027. The ratings covered both standalone Medicare Advantage contracts and those that include Part D drug coverage. Part D leaders unchanged. For standalone prescription drug coverage, the same two companies earned best overall recognition in both 2026 and 2027. Humana scored 3.8 and Centene scored 3.5 for 2027, according to U.S. News. To qualify as a top Part D company, an insurer needed at least 1,000 Part D beneficiaries in each of at least 10 jurisdictions where it still offers 2027 coverage, and an enrollment-weighted average rating of at least 3.5 after rounding. How the ratings compare with CMS stars. The U.S. News results broadly track this year's CMS Star Ratings, which showed Humana rebounding sharply, with 95 percent of its Medicare Advantage members in plans rated 4 stars or higher, up from about 20 percent. Aetna and UnitedHealthcare saw their share of members in 4-star-or-better plans decline, though both still met U.S. News' threshold. Because U.S. News applies its own weighting and requires a presence in at least 10 states, its list highlights larger multistate carriers. Strong regional plans may appear instead in U.S. News' state-by-state rankings. Those state-level ratings recognize a wider field. In the 2026 edition, fewer than one-third of Medicare Advantage insurers nationwide earned a best insurance company designation in at least one state, according to Geisinger Health Plan, which was named a best company in Pennsylvania that year. Regional and provider-owned plans such as Geisinger's often compete closely with national carriers in their home markets even when they fall short of the 10-state requirement for the national list, giving beneficiaries more top-rated options to compare locally. What it means for beneficiaries and plans. For beneficiaries, the ratings are one input among several. Plan networks, drug formularies, premiums and out-of-pocket costs vary widely by county, and a highly rated company may not offer the best plan in a given area. For insurers, appearing among the best Medicare Advantage companies can be a marketing advantage during open enrollment. Unlike CMS Star Ratings, the U.S. News ratings do not affect federal quality bonus payments, but they shape how consumers and brokers view plan quality as enrollment decisions are made.
UnitedHealth targets No Surprises Act arbitration wins as Congress weighs ending IDR. UnitedHealth says No Surprises Act arbitration awards are its biggest cost pressure. What practices that use IDR should document now. UnitedHealth Group told Wall Street on Oct. 13 that No Surprises Act arbitration awards are the biggest cost problem in its employer business and accused a small number of clinician groups of abusing the dispute process. Practices that depend on those wins should expect the country's largest payer to fight harder to shrink them. Physician groups have heard the argument before. "If the payers are hiding behind the more egregious cases, I don't think they are really addressing the main issue, which is that providers still prevail the vast majority of the time," Anders Gilberg, senior vice president of government affairs at the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), told Physicians Practice in. Gilberg acknowledged a few outrageous cases and some profit-driven ownership arrangements but called them "the exception to the rule." On the company's third-quarter earnings call, executives said arbitration awards can approach nearly 6 percent of total medical spend in some regions, with some awards running 10 to 11 times what Medicare would pay, according to. They said UnitedHealth will keep working with policymakers and regulators to make sure the law works as Congress intended. The warning came in a strong quarter. UnitedHealth reported $4.1 billion in profit, up from $2.3 billion a year earlier, and a medical loss ratio of 88.4 percent, down from 89.9 percent,. But spending in employer-sponsored plans ran high for a second straight quarter, and executives pointed to arbitration payouts, pricier specialty drugs and providers billing more aggressively,. They put commercial cost trend above 11 percent and pointed to rising cost intensity from clinicians. Why the timing matters. UnitedHealth is making its case while Congress debates whether arbitration should exist at all. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced the Lower Premiums, Faster Payments Act on Oct. 8. According to, it would end open negotiation and IDR for services furnished on or after Jan. 1, 2028, make the qualifying payment amount (QPA) the out-of-network rate, require payment within 30 days and bar judicial review of how the QPA is calculated. The same analysis notes the bill's near-term prospects look limited with Pallone in the minority. Still, the largest payer publicly tying arbitration to employer premiums hands lawmakers and regulators a ready talking point. For now, the numbers favor providers. They won 88 percent of resolved disputes in the first quarter of 2024 and 83 percent in the second, and the median winning provider offer ran 383 percent to 447 percent of the QPA, according to. Five organizations accounted for 63 percent of resolved cases, the kind of concentration UnitedHealth is pointing to. Volume keeps climbing. Parties started more than 2.1 million disputes from Jan. 1 through July 31, 2026, according to. Of the 671,465 disputes closed in June and July, 98,398, or nearly 15 percent, were found ineligible. What it means for practices. For an independent group that relies on arbitration, the cost intensity complaint is the part to watch. When a payer names clinician billing as a driver of employer costs, practices can expect closer scrutiny of coding levels, more downcoding and more records requests on out-of-network claims. The best defense is a clean file on every dispute. list what certified IDR entities look for: the complete remittance or denial notice with its codes, a full explanation of benefits, the claim number and the QPA. Practices should also keep the emails or portal records showing they started the 30-business-day open negotiation period, because they must produce them if the payer says negotiation never happened. CMS flags incorrect batching as one of the most common mistakes. The raises the bar further. Open negotiation notices now go through the federal portal, each party pays a $15 administrative fee per dispute, batched disputes are capped at 50 line items and parties get five business days to answer an IDR entity's request for more information. Winning is only half the job. Gilberg said in June that providers prevail more than 80 percent of the time "only to receive no payment," and called for "more accountability so that when a provider prevails in the IDR process, they actually get paid in a timely manner." The courts have not filled that gap. On Sept. 17, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a provider could not sue Cigna to collect more than $3 million in unpaid awards and pointed it to federal agencies and states for enforcement,. UnitedHealth did not say what it will ask regulators for. Pallone's bill would not take effect before 2028 even if it passed, so arbitration remains the path for today's disputes, and practices that document every step will be in the strongest position however the policy fight ends.
UnitedHealth Q3 2026 earnings beat masks a growth stall. UnitedHealth Group's (NYSE: UNH) UnitedHealth Q3 2026 earnings landed well clear of where the market had braced for, and the stock rewarded it: shares touched $395.33 on 13 October, up 3.76% on the day and 5.23% over the preceding month, according to UnitedHealth's own results statement. The insurer also raised its full-year profit guidance for the second quarter running - but the underlying numbers suggest this is a story about clawing back margin that was lost in 2025, not one about the business getting bigger. The headline figures: revenue of $112.7 billion, GAAP diluted earnings per share of $4.56, and adjusted earnings per share of $4.69, with earnings from operations of $6.6 billion, all drawn from the company's third-quarter filing with the SEC. Chief executive Stephen Hemsley attributed the quarter to "the discipline and execution our teams are bringing to every part of our business," language that reads, in context, like a company still working its way back from a rough stretch rather than one declaring victory. A beat against a weak comparison, not against growth. Here is the number that deserves more attention than it is likely to get: Q3 2026 revenue of $112.7 billion was essentially flat against the $113.161 billion UnitedHealth booked in the same quarter a year earlier, per its year-ago quarterly filing. Top-line growth, in other words, has gone quiet. What moved was profitability - diluted earnings per share of $4.56 this time around dwarfs the $2.59 UnitedHealth managed in the third quarter of 2025, when a medical-cost blowup gutted margins across the group. That 2025 quarter was itself a recovery attempt from an even uglier stretch: UnitedHealth posted a net loss of $1.4 billion, or $1.53 a share, in the first quarter of 2024, before swinging back to multibillion-dollar profits through the rest of that year and into 2025. Set against that backdrop, this quarter's beat looks less like fresh momentum and more like a company normalising off a genuinely depressed base. Gurufocus, which covered the release alongside UnitedHealth's own filing, reported shares rising in premarket trading on the combination of the beat and the guidance raise, with other outlets putting the premarket pop at four to five%. By the time regular trading was under way, the move had settled to the 3.76% one-day gain reflected in consolidated exchange data - still a solid reaction, just not quite the premarket spike implied. Guidance keeps climbing off a low base. UnitedHealth had already nudged its full-year 2026 outlook to a range of $18.45 to $18.95 per share when it reported the second quarter, according to that earlier filing. Tuesday's raise builds on that base again, continuing a pattern of the company walking its numbers up gradually through the year rather than resetting expectations in one move - consistent with management steering through the aftermath of 2025's cost overruns rather than guiding into a period of expansion. CNBC separately confirmed the beat-and-raise framing, and transcript coverage of the earnings call points to management leaning heavily on cost discipline as the explanation, rather than enrolment or pricing gains. Quarterly profit has been genuinely choppy across the past two years: from the first-quarter 2024 loss, UnitedHealth swung to $4.2 billion in net income the following quarter, $6.1 billion in the third quarter of 2024, then $6.3 billion and $3.4 billion in the first two quarters of 2025 before the cost pressures hit hardest in the third quarter of that year. The $6.3 billion and $5.5 billion posted in the first two quarters of 2026 suggested the repair job was already under way before this latest print. Positioning data points to earnings-driven buying. Short-sale activity in UnitedHealth shares gives little indication that Tuesday's rally was a short squeeze - a rush of bearish traders buying back borrowed shares to close out losing bets. FINRA's daily short-sale ratio for the stock ranged roughly between 0.32 and 0.56 across the fortnight running into the results, with no sustained build-up or sudden unwind visible ahead of the print. That pattern points to the move being driven by the numbers themselves rather than positioning mechanics. The broader rates backdrop was quiet too: the 10-year Treasury yield sat at 5.22% on 8 October, down slightly from 5.28% days earlier, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2% in September - neither shift large enough to explain a stock-specific move of this size. The quarter leaves UnitedHealth in a familiar position: profitable again, guiding higher again, but still searching for the top-line growth that once defined the stock's premium rating. Investors cheering the print on 13 October were, in effect, cheering a return to form rather than a new chapter - and the next test will be whether revenue growth reappears once the easy comparisons against 2025's cost crisis run out. This article is for information only and is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. Markets move quickly; figures are correct as sourced at the time of writing. Always do your own research before making financial decisions.
US stock futures were mixed on Tuesday as investors weighed a wave of earnings reports. Dow futures rose 0.9%, S&P 500 futures slipped 0.1%, and Nasdaq futures fell 0.7%. Memory stocks fell for a second day after a Chinese chipmaker, CXMT, said it had made a breakthrough in memory chip production. Roundhill Memory ETF fell more than 5% in premarket trading. UnitedHealth rose more than 2% after it earned an adjusted $4.69 per share on $112.69 billion in revenue, beating estimates. It raised its full-year earnings outlook to at least $20.50 per share. Goldman Sachs gained more than 3% on strong results. JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup fell short in parts of their reports. Johnson & Johnson fell 2% after $25.40 billion in sales narrowly missed estimates, though it raised its full-year forecasts.
UnitedHealth rises 4% on earnings beat and raised full-year outlook; Humana advances 2%. UnitedHealth crushed earnings estimates and lifted its full-year outlook, but the number driving its medical cost improvement raises a critical question about whether the turnaround is built to last. UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH | UNH Price Prediction) shares are up 4% to $395.19 after the health insurer topped Q3 2026 profit estimates and raised its full-year outlook. The beat came on the metric that matters most in managed care, though a reserve release did part of the work. Meanwhile, Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV) shares are up 2% to $429.47 and Humana (NYSE:HUM) stock is trading 2% higher at $442.01; these gains obviously fall short of the move in UnitedHealth stock. Elevance Health runs a comparable insurance and health services combination at a smaller scale. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLV) is up 0.7% to $173.10, a far smaller advance than the gain in UnitedHealth stock. For a broad-market reading, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is flat at $777.76. Medical care ratio improvement powers UnitedHealth's beat. Key data−. Previous Close Market Cap Day's Range 52wk Range Dividend Yield UnitedHealth reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $4.69 before the opening bell, well ahead of the $4.15 consensus estimate. Management raised its full-year 2026 adjusted EPS outlook again, to at least $20.50, extending a string of upgrades this year. Chief executive Stephen Hemsley weighed in. He stated that the results reflect "the discipline and execution our teams are bringing to every part of our business." On the cost side, UnitedHealth's medical care ratio, the share of premiums paid out on claims, improved to 88.4% from 89.9% a year earlier. This included $610 million of net favorable prior period reserve development. That means money set aside in earlier periods for claims proved larger than needed. A reserve release lifts the quarter and may not repeat, which is what separates a durable result from a flattering one. Optum Health rebound meets shrinking membership. UnitedHealth's Optum Health unit posted operating earnings of $735 million. The unit, part of its Optum health services and pharmacy arm, was up from $41 million a year earlier. The rebound followed UnitedHealth's exit from value-based care markets where it lacked sufficient scale. That decision also cut Optum Health revenue 10%. Trading revenue for profit in this way gives UnitedHealth a second source of earnings repair beyond insurance pricing. Free Report, Just Released Why Didn't UNH Make The Top 10 List? 24/7 Wall St has helped investors make money for over two decades, and our top analysts just finished ranking the definitive Top 10 Stocks To Buy Now. Not the ten biggest companies. Not the ten everyone is arguing about. The ten best stocks to buy right now. And UNH didn't make the cut! The report is free, and you can see why we think each stock is a top investment today. Elsewhere in Optum, Optum Insight earnings rose to $1.3 billion from $920 million on enhanced product offerings and operational improvements. Optum Rx earnings climbed to $1.7 billion from $1.5 billion, reflecting continued adoption of biosimilars. UnitedHealthcare, the insurance arm, sees its profitability turn on how much of each premium dollar goes back out in medical costs. Its medical membership slipped to 48.3 million from 50.1 million a year earlier. A decline in its Medicare Advantage and Medicaid enrollment pulled total revenue down 0.4% to $112.69 billion, though the figure still topped estimates. Humana and Elevance Health, fellow managed care insurers, offer a benchmark for how far UnitedHealth's report carries among peers. Elevance Health stock's smaller gain frames the move as company-specific strength with modest impact. What to watch next. What remains unclear is whether the medical care ratio holds its improvement once reserve benefits fade. UnitedHealth's Medicare Advantage enrollment has also contracted by 935,000 since year-end 2025, which could keep pressure on revenue even as margins recover. A raised outlook, the Optum Health rebound and $5 billion in share buybacks through September 30 support the bull case. The insurer's shrinking membership and a quarter helped by reserve releases keep the bear case alive. Got $1,000? Before you buy UNH, read this. If you have cash sitting in your account right now, give this two minutes. After more than two decades of helping investors beat the market, our top analysts at 24/7 Wall St. put together a definitive report on the Top 10 Stocks To Buy Today. And UNH wasn't one of them. They combed the entire market. It's not 10 ideas, not 10 stocks everyone is talking about, it's what their research points to as the 10 best stocks to buy right now, and it's free. Read more here and see which stocks made the list ->> David Moadel David Moadel is financial writer specializing in stocks, ETFs, options, precious metals, and Bitcoin. David has written well over 1,000 articles for leading online publications, helping investors understand markets, income strategies, and risk.His work has appeared in The Motley Fool, InvestorPlace, U.S. News & World Report, TipRanks, ValueWalk, Benzinga, Market Realist, TalkMarkets, Finmasters, 24/7 Wall St., and others.With a master's degree in education, David has taught at the elementary, high school, and college levels. That teaching background shapes his writing style: clear, educational, and practical. David has also built a loyal social-media audience by providing trustworthy financial content on YouTube, X/Twitter, and StockTwits.