UnitedHealthcare CEO Andrew Whitty sent this message to employees at the major insurance company hours after co-CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed outside a Manhattan hotel on December 4th.
Several senior UnitedHealthcare executives are under investigation by the Justice Department, but it is unclear whether CEO Brian Thompson was part of the investigation before the killing.
Thompson was shot Wednesday morning in midtown Manhattan in what police said was a targeted attack.
Executives were reportedly accused of insider trading and fraud, and the Justice Department last year launched an investigation into whether the nation's largest insurance company had unfairly restricted competition and exercised a monopoly. did.
Last month, the Justice Department joined the attorneys general of Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York to block UnitedHealth Group Inc.'s proposed $3.3 billion acquisition of competing home health and hospice provider Amedisys. filed a lawsuit.
UnitedHealthcare CEO shot dead in 'targeted' attack outside Manhattan hotel, suspects in large group
A United Healthcare sign is posted outside a store in Queens, New York, on Monday, January 14, 2013. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The transaction eliminates competition between UnitedHealth and Amedisys, according to the complaint.
Eliminating competition would harm not only the patients who receive home health and hospice services, but also the insurance companies that contract with home health services and the nurses who provide those services, according to the Justice Department.
“Home health and hospice patients and their families who are going through some of the most difficult times in their lives deserve access to affordable, quality care options,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said last month. Therefore, we are objecting to this merger.” “The Department of Justice will not hesitate to crack down on illegal consolidation and monopolization in health care markets that can harm vulnerable patients, their families, and health care providers.”
The hacker behind UnitedHealth Group's cyber attack has been reportedly identified.
On Wednesday, December 4, 2024, the CEO of United Healthcare was shot and killed in New York City. (Fox News Digital/United Healthcare/Fox News)
The two companies view each other as close competitors in home health and hospice services, and UnitedHealth's proposal would eliminate that competition.
According to the Department of Justice, UnitedHealth proposed selling certain facilities to Vital Caring Group to address the overlap between UnitedHealth and Amedisys. But the proposal would leave more than 100 home health, hospice and labor market jobs generating more than $1 billion in revenue each year, serving at least 200,000 patients and employing at least 4,000 nurses. It does not mitigate the damages, the Justice Department added.
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“The health care situation in the United States is deteriorating,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Cantor of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division. “This will further spread the threat to the elderly, their families, and nurses.”
FOX Business has reached out to UnitedHealth but has not yet received a response.
