UnitedHealth Group


UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is an American multinational for-profit company specializing in health insurance and health care services based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Selling insurance products under UnitedHealthcare, and health care services under the Optum brand, it is the world's seventh-largest company by revenue and the largest health care company by revenue. The company is ranked seventh on the 2025 Fortune Global 500.
UnitedHealth Group has a market capitalization of more than $460 billion as of 2024. The company is the largest health insurer in the United States, insuring over 50 million people, and operates globally.
UnitedHealth Group has faced numerous investigations, lawsuits, and fines, including SEC enforcement for stock option backdating, Medicare over-billing, unfair claims practices, mental health treatment denials, and anticompetitive behavior.

History

1970s–1990s

UnitedHealth Group originated in late 1974, when Minnesota-based Charter Med Incorporated was founded by Richard Taylor Burke. It originally processed claims for doctors at the Hennepin County Medical Society. UnitedHealthcare Corporation was founded in 1977 to purchase Charter Med and create a network-based health plan for seniors. It became a publicly traded company in 1984 and changed its name to UnitedHealth Group in 1998.
In 1988, UnitedHealthcare started its first pharmacy benefit management, through its Diversified Pharmaceutical Services subsidiary. It managed pharmacy benefits delivered both through retail pharmacies and mail. The subsidiary was sold to SmithKline Beecham in 1994 for $2.3 billion.
In 1994, UnitedHealthcare acquired Ramsey-HMO, a Florida insurer. In 1995, the company acquired The MetraHealth Companies Inc. for $1.65 billion. MetraHealth was a privately held company formed by combining the group healthcare operations of The Travelers Companies and MetLife. In 1996, UnitedHealthcare acquired HealthWise of America, which operated HMOs in Arkansas, Maryland, Kentucky and Tennessee.
In 1998, the company was reorganized as the holding company for hitherto independent companies UnitedHealthcare, Ovations, Uniprise, Specialized Care Services, and Ingenix and rebranded as "UnitedHealth Group". Also in 1998, UnitedHealth Group acquired HealthPartners of Arizona, operator of Arizona's largest AHCCCS provider.

2000s

In 2001, EverCare, a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary, merged with LifeMark Health Plans In 2002, UnitedHealth Group acquired GeoAccess and Medicaid insurance company AmeriChoice. In 2003, UnitedHealth Group acquired Mid Atlantic Medical Services, an insurer serving Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, Delaware and West Virginia. Also in 2003, UnitedHealth Group acquired Golden Rule Financial, a provider of health savings accounts. On July 21, 2003, Exante Bank started operating in Salt Lake City, Utah, as a Utah state-chartered industrial loan corporation. It changed its name to OptumHealth Bank in 2008 and to Optum Bank in 2012.
In April 2004, UnitedHealth Group acquired Touchpoint Health Plan, a Wisconsin health plan. In July 2004, the company acquired Oxford Health Plans.
In December 2005, the company acquired PacifiCare Health Systems. It agreed to divest parts of PacifiCare's commercial health insurance business in Tucson, Arizona and Boulder, Colorado to satisfy antitrust regulator concerns, and also agreed to end its network access agreement with Blue Shield of California. The Tucson business was sold to Cigna. The company acquired Prescription Solutions, another pharmacy benefits manager, as part of its acquisition of PacifiCare Health Systems. This business was later rebranded OptumRx.
In February 2006, the company acquired John Deere Health Care. The same year, William W. McGuire stepped down as chairman and director due to his involvement in the employee stock options scandal. He was replaced by CEO Stephen Hemsley who had served as president and COO and a member of the board of directors. McGuire's exit compensation from UnitedHealth was anticipated to be $1.1 billion, but he only received $618 million after returning $420 million in stock options.
In February 2008, the company acquired Sierra Health Services for $2.6 billion. As part of the transaction, to obtain regulatory approval, 25,000 customers were sold to Humana. In July 2009, UnitedHealth Group agreed to acquire Health Net's Northeast licensed subsidiaries for up to $570 million in payments spread out over two years.

2010s

Through 2010 and into 2011, senior executives of the company met monthly with executives of other health insurers to limit the effect of the health care reform law. In July 2010, Ingenix acquired Picis Clinical Solutions, Inc., a health information provider for the high-acuity areas of hospitals. In 2011, Logistics Health, Inc. of La Crosse, Wisconsin, was acquired by OptumHealth. In September 2014, the office buildings where LHI is based were sold to UnitedHealth Group for $45 million. In February 2012, the company acquired XLHealth, a sponsor of Medicare Advantage health plans with a primary focus on medicare recipients with special needs such as those with chronic illness and those eligible for Medicaid. In October 2012, UnitedHealth Group and Amil Participações, one of the biggest Brazilian health insurance companies, completed the first phase of their merger.
In February 2014, Optum secured a majority stake in the Washington, D.C.–based startup Audax Health. Audax's CEO, Grant Verstandig, continued running the firm alongside COO David Ko. In October 2014, Optum Health acquired the health services unit of Alere for $600 million cash.
In March 2015, it was announced that CatamaranRx would be acquired by OptumRx. In April 2016, the company announced it was pulling out of all but a "handful" of state healthcare exchanges provided under Affordable Care Act and will continue to sell only in three states in 2017.
In 2017, UnitedHealth's Optum unit acquired Rally Health, a company started by Audax Health's executives. Prior to acquisition, in 2015, UnitedHealth supported Rally Health as a majority investor, and through enrolling more than 5 million UnitedHealth policy holders in Rally Health's flagship product, Rally. The close relations between UnitedHealth, Audax Health and Rally Health follows a close personal relationship between Grant Verstandig and UnitedHealth's President and CFO at the time, David Wichmann.
In June 2019, UnitedHealth's Optum division acquired DaVita Medical Group from DaVita, Inc. for $4.3 billion. That year, the company also agreed to acquire Equian for $3.2 billion. On June 19, 2019, UnitedHealth acquired the online patient community platform PatientsLikeMe for an undisclosed amount and it will be incorporated into UnitedHealth Group's research division.
In November 2019, Andrew Witty was named president of UnitedHealth Group, in addition to his role as chief executive of the company's Optum division.

2020s–present

UnitedHealth announced in March 2022 that it would acquire LHC Group for $5.4 billion. The deal will expand its home health capabilities by combining LHC's services with UnitedHealth's Optum unit.
In 2022, UnitedHealth Group said there would be no out-of-pocket costs for albuterol, epinephrine, glucagon, insulin, and naloxone for fully insured members starting in 2023. The discounts were guaranteed for less than a quarter of UnitedHealthcare's membership and did not extend to those enrolled in UHC's Medicare Advantage and Medicaid plans.
In 2023, UnitedHealthGroup announced it would move its headquarters from Minnetonka to Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
In February 2024, UnitedHealth Group completed the sale of its operations in Brazil.
In February 2022, UnitedHealth announced the acquisition of Change Healthcare, the largest health payments platform in the US, which the US Justice Department tried to block on antitrust grounds; the sale went through by September. 18 months later, in February 2024, the subsidiary was brought completely down by the 2024 Change Healthcare ransomware attack, and the Justice Department announced that it was opening a new antitrust and Medicare overcharging probe. Despite making a ransomware payment, services remained down or incomplete for months. The CEO, Andrew Witty, was called before the US House and US Senate to testify about the cyberattack and DoJ concerns. In late April 2024, the Senate held a hearing concerning the cyberattack and UnitedHealth's response. Andrew Witty went before the Senate stating that there needed to be a strong digital security system in place along with an adequate backup plan. UnitedHealth revealed the hackers did gain access to patient information, but the Senate was informed the company is not yet aware of the extent of the data breach.
On December 4, 2024, Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group's insurance division, was killed in a shooting in New York City. The shooting occurred outside the New York Hilton Midtown, where UnitedHealth Group was hosting an investor event. Reactions to the shooting on social media were defined by resentment and criticism of UnitedHealthcare, the American health insurance system, and widespread disdain towards Thompson. Police later arrested a suspect, Luigi Mangione, and charged him with murder. Tim Noel joined UnitedHealthCare in 2007 and succeeded Brian Thompson as the CEO. Prior to becoming CEO, Noel was in charge of UnitedHealthCare's Medicare Advantage plans.
In November 2025 Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, joined UnitedHealth Group's board of directors.

Organizational structure

UnitedHealth Group has about 2700 subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide, the highest profile being Optum and UnitedHealthcare.

Optum

Formed in 2011, Optum says that it provides "data and analytics, pharmacy care services, population health, healthcare delivery, and healthcare operations".
It is organized into three businesses:
  • OptumHealth – provides primary and secondary care.
  • OptumInsight – provides data analytics, technology, and operations services.
  • OptumRX – provides pharmacy services.