By Michael Erman
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth’s insurance coverage unit, was fatally shot in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning in what police described as a focused assault by a masked assailant mendacity in wait simply earlier than the mum or dad firm’s annual investor convention at a Hilton Lodge.
Thompson, 50, had been with the corporate for 20 years and was CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the big insurance coverage unit of UnitedHealth Group, since April 2021. The next is what you could find out about UnitedHealthcare:
WHAT IS UNITEDHEALTHCARE’S BUSINESS?
UnitedHealthcare is the biggest U.S. well being insurer, offering advantages to greater than 50 million People. The corporate supplies profit plans that pay for a lot of routine healthcare in addition to care for patrons who fall ailing or get injured. The unit had $281.4 billion in income in 2023, practically double that of the subsequent largest U.S. well being insurer. People routinely pay extra for healthcare than folks in some other nation.
HOW DOES IT FIT INTO UNITEDHEALTH GROUP?
UnitedHealth Group is a $560 billion well being conglomerate that consists of two fundamental subsidiaries. Along with the insurance coverage enterprise that was led by Thompson, there’s Optum, which features a pharmacy advantages supervisor, specialty pharmacy, information analytics and physician and surgical practices.
It additionally contains expertise firm Change, which was the goal of a cyber assault this yr that impacted 1000’s of suppliers and thousands and thousands of healthcare prospects.
The entire firm introduced in $371.6 billion in income final yr. Sir Andrew Witty turned CEO of UnitedHealth Group in 2021 after having run Optum. He was beforehand CEO of Britain-based pharmaceutical firm GSK from 2008 to 2017.
HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES UNITEDHEALTHCARE COVER AND WHERE?
The corporate offered medical insurance for greater than 50.6 million on the finish of the third quarter, together with 49.3 million folks throughout america. Almost 30 million are enrolled in employer-based or different business insurance coverage, 15.3 million in government-backed Medicare plans primarily for these age 65 and older underneath Medicare Benefit packages, and 4.3 million in Medicaid plans for low-income folks. The corporate’s world enterprise supplies advantages to prospects in over 150 different nations, in line with its annual report.
Below Thompson, UnitedHealthcare grew the variety of folks it covers domestically, which rose from round 44 million folks when he took over as CEO in April 2021.
HOW PROFITABLE IS IT?
In 2023, the insurance coverage enterprise earned $16.4 billion, up practically a 3rd from 2020, the yr earlier than Thompson took over as CEO.
(Reporting by Michael Erman; Modifying by Invoice Berkrot)
