From exploring the sale of a South American-based subsidiary to suing The Guardian for defamation, here are 10 updates on UnitedHealth Group that Becker’s reported since June 2:
1. A federal judge approved a $69 million agreement to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged UnitedHealth Group prioritized its business relationship with Wells Fargo over concerns that its 401(k) plan contained low-performing target-date funds.
2. UnitedHealthcare is ending broker commission payments for some of its Medicare Advantage plans.
3. UnitedHealthcare and Providence, R.I.-based Brown University Health mutually agreed to go out of network on July 1 for Medicare Advantage plans.
4. UnitedHealth Group and Optum settled a lawsuit filed by two former employees who alleged that the company violated state and federal employee notification laws during mass layoffs in August 2023.
5. Moody’s Ratings downgraded UnitedHealth Group’s outlook from stable to negative, citing “a number of adverse trends simultaneously.”
6. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Lloyd Doggett asked U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to expand the Justice Department’s reported civil and criminal investigations into UnitedHealth Group to include allegations that the company has engaged in harmful and fraudulent cost-cutting tactics in nearly 2,000 nursing homes.
7. UnitedHealth Group is exploring the sale of its Banmedica subsidiary, which operates in Colombia and Chile.
8. UnitedHealth Group is suing The Guardian for defamation following the publication of an investigative report from the media outlet that accuses the company of engaging in harmful and fraudulent cost-cutting tactics in nearly 2,000 nursing homes.
9. UnitedHealth Group canceled the performance-based restricted stock units previously granted to its former CEO Andrew Witty.
10. Following a tumultuous period for UnitedHealth Group, new CEO and board chair Stephen Hemsley addressed investors on June 2, acknowledging the company’s recent shortcomings and detailing his plan to restore the high performance that investors and customers expect moving forward.
