UnitedHealth Group's CEO will step down, and a familiar face will be taking the helm of the company, which said it "expects to return to growth in 2026" despite higher-than-expected medical costs and a tumultuous 2024 capped off by the murder of a high-ranking executive.
Andrew Witty’s departure as CEO is due to "personal reasons," UnitedHealth Group announced on May 13. The company tapped Stephen J. Hemsley, who served as its CEO from 2006 to 2017, to replace the outgoing executive.
Although Witty will no longer be CEO, he will serve as senior adviser to Hemsley, who will remain chairman of the company's board of directors.
“We are grateful for Andrew’s stewardship of UnitedHealth Group, especially during some of the most challenging times any company has ever faced,” Hemsley said in a news release. “The Board and I have greatly valued his leadership and compassion as chief executive and as a director and wish him and his family the best."
UnitedHealth Group shares decline after suspension of 2025 outlook
As CEO, Hemsley said the company will look to return to its "long-term growth objective of 13 to 16 percent."
"Leading the people of UnitedHealth Group has been a tremendous honor as they work every day to improve the health system, and they will continue to inspire me,” Witty said.
In addition to the leadership change, the company said it's suspending its 2025 outlook, partially because of the medical costs of many Medicare Advantage beneficiaries new to UnitedHealthcare remaining "higher than expected." This decision led to shares of the health care giant declining more than 10% in morning trading.
Shares of the company also dropped in February, when the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Justice Department was investigating UnitedHealth's Medicare billing practices. The civil fraud investigation is looking into the company's practices for recording diagnoses that trigger extra payments to its Medicare Advantage plans, the WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter.
As of 1:15 p.m. ET on May 13, UnitedHealth Group's stock sat below $320 after dropping more than 15% on Tuesday.
UnitedHealth Group targeted in largest-ever health industry data breach
With UnitedHealth Group looking toward the future, many are still grappling with a tumultuous year for the company.
In 2024, UnitedHealth Group was at the center of the largest-everhealth industry data breach, and it garnered public scrutiny after the killing of Brian Thompson, the CEO of the company’s insurance unit, UnitedHealthcare.
Regarding the data breach in February 2024, the company said in January that hackers stole records of about 190 million people in the cyberattack on its Change Healthcare subsidiary. The health care giant's updated figure is nearly twice as large as its previous estimate of 100 million victims.
The breach on UnitedHealth-owned Change Healthcare disrupted the health care industry as doctors and hospitals could not collect payments for weeks when computer systems shut down.
UnitedHealth Group was criticized after Brian Thompson's murder
UnitedHealth Group's 2024 was again upended with Thompson's killing in December, which led to a nationwide manhunt, and the eventual arrest of Luigi Mangione at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to Thompson's murder, but his trial has yet to begin.
The CEO's killing and the 26-year-old's arrest ignited national discussion about UnitedHealthcare and the U.S. health insurance industry as a whole.
"The system is rigged against Americans who need care, people who have health insurance, and it is largely because of the role that Wall Street plays in our health care system," Wendell Potter, a former CIGNA executive who became a whistleblower against the health insurance industry, previously told USA TODAY.
Witty defends UnitedHealthcare after Thompson's murder
In a New York Times op-ed published after Thompson's murder, Witty said, "…We also are struggling to make sense of this unconscionable act and the vitriol that has been directed at our colleagues who have been barraged by threats."
In the same op-ed, Witty publicly acknowledgedthat the U.S. health system is “flawed” and requires reform, but he also defended UnitedHealthcare.
"We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it,” Witty wrote in the opinion piece. “No one would design a system like the one we have. And no one did. It’s a patchwork built over decades.”
Jonathan Limehouse covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at JLimehouse@gannett.com.
Contributing: Phaedra Trethan, Ken Alltucker, Jeanine Santucci, N'dea Yancey-Bragg & Cecilia Garzella/ USA TODAY
