UNH · 10-Q · 2026Q3 · Full report

Medical Cost Trend / Benefit Ratio

UNITEDHEALTH GROUP INC · 2026-11-03 · Importance 37 · Surprise 32

Third-quarter 2026 medical costs decreased 4% year over year to $76.982 billion, while the medical care ratio fell 1.5 percentage points to 88.4%. Nine-month medical costs declined 3% to $225.829 billion, and the medical care ratio improved 1.8 percentage points to 86.3%. Lower costs reflected fewer people served across UnitedHealthcare and Optum Health and favorable prior-period reserve development, partly offset by elevated medical trends, higher provider reimbursement under the No Surprises Act, and increased commercial service and coding intensity. The MCR improvement also reflected affordability and medical-cost management initiatives, pricing trends, and benefit design changes.

Key facts

• The medical care ratio decreased due to favorable prior-period reserve development, affordability and medical-cost management initiatives, pricing trends and benefit-design changes, partly offset by medical-cost trend above historical levels and higher No Surprises Act reimbursement and commercial service and coding intensity. source