UnitedHealth CEO predicts growth across the company in 2015

Jan 21 (Reuters) - UnitedHealth Group Inc Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hemsley said on Wednesday that he expects the health insurance company to grow across all fronts in 2015, including in Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and commercial insurance as well as in its Optum healthcare services business.

Hemsley said that sales on the individual exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act were ahead of schedule for sign-ups for 2015 plans, with 400,000 new members in the 23 states where it is selling these plans.

Speaking during a conference call with investors, he said that first quarter 2015 earnings would be down from the fourth quarter of 2014, but "perhaps not to the levels reflected in analysts' estimates."

ThomsonReuters I/B/E/S shows analyst consensus for earnings of $1.26 per share in the first quarter of 2015.

(Reporting by Caroline Humer; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)