ROC Weekly News Bites
American Insurance Firms Go Digital, UnitedHealth earns $4B+ in 3Q, Massive International Cocaine Bust, and House of Representatives Pass Bill Regarding Crack Cocaine
Here is a recap of some of the top industry-related news stories of the week:
CoverGo helps American insurance firms go digital with its no-code technology
CoverGo, is expanding to the USA, Canada, and Latin America, offering a no-code insurance technology to help insurance providers remain agile and relevant as the market digitizes.
The solution will allow insurance firms to streamline their offering, from their products to managing claims.
CoverGo is one example of the no-code/low-code technology that is expected to be responsible for over 65% of the application development in the US$6.3 trillion insurance market sector. CoverGo is arriving at the right time to help companies adapt to the changing environment.
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Top banks report third-quarter profit; UnitedHealth earns $4.09 billion in 3Q
Third quarter profits were reported for Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley.
Among them is UnitedHealth, reporting $4.09B in the third quarter of 2021. The Optum division is responsible for a large part of these earnings.
UnitedHealth runs UnitedHealthcare, a health insurance business that covers more than 48 million people, mostly Americans. Its Optum segment also runs one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit management operations, a growing number of clinics and urgent care and surgery centers.
The $4.09B equates to $4.28 per share. This share increase is 11 cents more than predicted by Wall Street. Revenue climbed to $72.34 billion from $65.12 billion, which also topped $71.54 billion expected by industry analysts. For Optum, revenue rose to $39.8 billion from $35.4 billion.
OptumRx adjusted prescriptions climbed 6% as it served more people and as the provision of care and usage of pharmaceuticals has continued to recover over the past year.
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More than 5 tons of cocaine worth around $232 million seized on yacht in Atlantic Ocean
In an international police operation, 5.2 metric tons of cocaine were seized on a yacht in the Atlantic Ocean. The street value for this bust is approximately $232 million.
Portuguese police, navy, and air force located and intercepted a 79-foot yacht at sea that was transporting 183 bales of cocaine.
Police suspect the cocaine belonged to an international drug-trafficking gang that was bringing cocaine into Europe through the Iberian Peninsula.
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U.S. House passes bill to end disparities in crack cocaine sentences
The House of Representatives passed a bill to permanently end the sentencing disparities between crack cocaine and powder. The previous policy was known to lead to the disproportionate incarceration of African Americans.
The bill will now head to the Senate, where it is believed to have a chance of passing. The Justice Department also previously endorsed the bill.
The disparities between crack and powder cocaine date back to war-on-drugs policies in the 1980s. In 1986, a law was passed to establish mandatory minimum sentences for drug trafficking offenses. These laws treated crack and cocaine powder offenses using a 100 to 1 ratio; selling 5 grams of crack cocaine was treated the same as selling 500 grams of powder cocaine.
The 100 to 1 ratio was later reduced in 2010 under the Fair Sentencing Act, down to 18 to 1.
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