UnitedHealth Group CEO steps down; suspends 2025 outlook on higher-than-expected medical costs

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN Associated Press Business Writer UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty is stepping down for personal reasons and the nation s largest fitness insurer suspended its full-year financial outlook due to higher-than-expected health costs Chairman Stephen Hemsley will become CEO effective directly the Minnesota company disclosed Hemsley was UnitedHealth Group CEO from to He will remain chairman of the company s board Witty will serve as a senior adviser to Hemsley Leading the people of UnitedHealth Group has been a tremendous honor as they work every day to improve the physical condition system and they will continue to inspire me Witty disclosed Witty joined the company in after serving about nine years as CEO of the British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline He was named UnitedHealth s CEO in February replacing Dave Wichmann UnitedHealth became one of the nation s largest companies under Witty s leadership Total revenue topped billion last year a increase from the billion UnitedHealth brought in the year before Witty became CEO Shares of UnitedHealth rocketed higher under Witty up since he took the company s top job Yet in the past five months that stock performance reversed sharply coinciding with the fatal shooting of company executive Brian Thompson in front of a New York City hotel late last year FILE Luigi Mangione accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson the CEO of UnitedHealthcare appears in Manhattan state court in New York Friday Feb Curtis Means Pool Photo via AP File The company has wrestled with the attention on Luigi Mangione who was indicted last month on a federal murder charge in the killing of Thompson The circumstance has captured the American imagination setting off a cascade of resentment and online vitriol toward U S wellness insurers while rattling corporate executives concerned about safeguard UnitedHealth cut its forecast last month following its first quarterly earnings miss in more than a decade Shares of UnitedHealth which have plummeted since the deadly Dec ambush of Thompson in midtown Manhattan fell more than before the opening bell on Tuesday UnitedHealth stated Tuesday that it suspended its outlook as anatomical costs of a great number of Medicare Advantage beneficiaries new to UnitedHealthcare were higher than expected More than million people have soundness insurance under UnitedHealth Group Inc It also has a large pharmacy benefit manager that runs prescription drug coverage and a growing Optum segment that delivers care and provides technical aid UnitedHealthcare is the nation s largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans with more than million customers Those are privately run versions of the federal regime coverage effort mostly for people ages and older AP Wellbeing Writer Tom Murphy contributed to this document