Don't let that happy talk about "value investing" fool you. Sure, I'm a value investor, but that doesn't mean I don't like taking risks -- sometimes even higher risks than our less value-conscious brethren. And so, with that in mind, I suggest that Universal American Financial (NASDAQ:UHCO) might still be worth a look.

Once again, it looks as though the financial results got beaten with the ugly stick. Revenue growth of 54% looks all nice and promising, but when you consider benefits expense, pre-tax income, and net income, you get that unpleasant sinking feeling. And looking at other metrics like return on equity and book value growth, you see it wasn't a pretty sequential performance.

But I'm still of the mind to say, "So what?" I mean, I didn't really think this was going to be a great quarter. Universal American is in the process of remaking this business, and that doesn't happen overnight.

The good news was that the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D businesses looked pretty decent. Membership growth seems to be OK, and while the Part D business in particular will be lumpy, it all appears to be going in the right direction for now. What's more, CVS (NYSE:CVS) isn't a bad partner to have in a business that's all about pharmaceutical benefits.

So what could go wrong? Plenty. This is still an insurance business, and as we're seeing in the senior-market health lines, past missteps can take a while to work themselves out. And, of course, there's the matter of competition -- giants like WellPoint (NYSE:WLP), UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH), and Humana (NYSE:HUM) walk some of these same grounds.

Value investors like to talk about finding $20 bills trading for $15. Well, in the case of Universal American, it might be buying a $20 bill for $10, but you're running the risk that that bill is going to spontaneously combust in your wallet. This isn't the stock for your milk money or your mortgage payment, but it just might be a real value turnaround opportunity in the health insurance sector.

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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).