United Health boss defends firm in first earnings results since CEO killing

The CEO of UnitedHealth Group has defended its role in America's health system as the company posted its first earnings results since the murder of one of its top executives.

Sir Andrew Witty spoke to analysts as the firm reported mixed results, just weeks after the shooting of Brian Thompson brought attention to the industry.

Some customers responded to the killing by sharing stories accusing the company of rejecting requests to pay for medical care.

Sir Andrew said UnitedHealth had helped lower costs, blaming drug firms and health providers for high prices.

But Mr Witty also said the largely private health system in the US needed to be "less confusing, less complex and less costly", acknowledging frustrations with the process for reviewing requests to approve healthcare.

"Those are key areas for us to work at to improve," he said, adding that he saw "much-heightened energy" to address the concerns.

He also said the company was committed to passing on 100% of the savings it wins during drug price negotiations to customers. It already passes on 98%, he said.

Sir Andrew, who was born in the UK, is chief executive of one of the biggest companies in the US.

UnitedHealth provides medical insurance for more than 49 million people and helps negotiate drug prices. It also has contracts with the government.

On Thursday it reported more than $400bn in revenue for last year - a record - up 8% from 2023. It said it was expecting revenues to rise more than 12% to $450bn in 2025.

But its business is facing both financial and political pressure.

Profits fell last year by more than a third, from roughly $22.3bn in 2023 to about $14.4bn.

Its medical care ratio - which tracks how much of the premiums it collects are paid out for healthcare - rose from 83.2% in 2023 to 85.5% last year.

It has blamed the dynamic in part on less generous reimbursement rates set by the government, which executives said they hoped would be revisited by the Trump administration.

One of its units suffered a major hack last year, affecting an estimated 100 million people.

Regulators have accused other parts of the business of artificially inflating prices, claims UnitedHealth denies.

The company is also facing allegations in a class-action lawsuit that it knowingly deployed error-prone software to review claims, ignoring the issues because of the benefits to its bottom line. The company has said the software does not make claims decisions.

Shares in the firm fell more than 4% after the results, which also prompted sell-off in shares at other health companies.

Mr Thompson, who led the firm's insurance arm, was shot dead in Manhattan on 4 December. A suspect is charged with his murder.