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 father or mother 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 massive 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 in poor health or get injured. The unit had $281.4 billion in income in 2023, practically double that of the following largest U.S. well being insurer. People routinely pay extra for healthcare than individuals in every other nation.
HOW DOES IT FIT INTO UNITEDHEALTH GROUP?
UnitedHealth Group is a $560 billion well being conglomerate that consists of two major subsidiaries. Along with the insurance coverage enterprise that was led by Thompson, there may be Optum, which features a pharmacy advantages supervisor, specialty pharmacy, knowledge analytics and physician and surgical practices.
It additionally contains know-how firm Change, which was the goal of a cyber assault this 12 months that impacted hundreds of suppliers and hundreds of thousands of healthcare clients.
The entire firm introduced in $371.6 billion in income final 12 months. Sir Andrew Witty grew to become 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 supplied medical insurance for greater than 50.6 million on the finish of the third quarter, together with 49.3 million individuals throughout america. Almost 30 million are enrolled in employer-based or different industrial 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 individuals. The corporate’s international enterprise supplies advantages to clients in over 150 different international locations, in response to its annual report.
Below Thompson, UnitedHealthcare grew the variety of individuals it covers domestically, which rose from round 44 million individuals 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 12 months earlier than Thompson took over as CEO.
(Reporting by Michael Erman; Enhancing by Invoice Berkrot)