Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, testifies during a Senate Finance Committee hearing titled “America’s Healthcare: Assessing the Changing Healthcare Cyber Attack and What’s Next” at the Dirksen Building on May 1, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Tom Williams Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
United Health Group CEO Andrew Witty on Friday mourned the death of Brian Thompson, who led the company’s insurance arm, and acknowledged that the US health-care system is “flawed” and in need of reform.
“We know that the health system doesn’t work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustration with it,” Witty wrote in a New York Times opinion piece. “No one would design a system like ours. And no one has. It’s a patchwork built over decades.”
UnitedHealth Group’s “mission is to help it work better,” he said.
“We’re willing to partner with anyone, as we always have — health care providers, employers, patients, pharmaceutical companies, governments and others — to find ways to deliver high-quality care and lower costs,” Witty added.
The New York Times piece marked Witty’s first public comments since last week’s fatal shooting of Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest private insurer in the U.S. UnitedHealth Group is the nation’s largest health-care company by revenue. Its market cap has shrunk by about $475 billion since Thompson’s death on Dec. 4.
Luigi Mangione, 26, is accused of fatally shooting Thompson outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan as CEO of UnitedHealth Group at an investor day. Investigators said Mangione was critical of the health-care industry, a widely held view among Americans.
The killings unleashed a wave of outrage and anger toward the insurance industry, which has become a popular villain blamed for rising health-care costs and difficulty accessing care. From denied claims, rising premiums and unexpected bills to an overall lack of transparency, patients have flooded social media with stories of their own negative experiences with insurance.
Still, the carnage comes after a challenging year for insurers, which are under pressure to boost profits. This year especially, companies are grappling with higher medical costs as seniors delay their surgeries during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Witty acknowledged UnitedHealth Group’s role in addressing health-care challenges in the United States
“Health care is both intensely personal and very complex, and the reasons behind coverage decisions are not well understood,” Witty said, “and we share some responsibility for that.”
He did not specify exactly what could be done to reform the industry. But Witty said companies, along with employers, governments and other providers, need to improve how insurers explain what’s covered and how those decisions are made.
He also noted that decisions on certain claims are “underpinned by a comprehensive and continuously updated body of clinical evidence focused on achieving optimal health outcomes and ensuring patient safety.”
Witty said Thompson did her best to help patients navigate the health-care system.
