UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty is stepping down for personal reasons and the nation’s largest health insurer suspended its full-year financial outlook due to higher-than-expected medical costs.
UnitedHealth cut its 2025 forecast last month following it’s first quarterly earnings miss in more than a decade. Shares of UnitedHealth, which have plummeted 38% since the deadly Dec. 4 ambush of company executive Brian Thompson in midtown Manhattan, fell another 8% before the opening bell Tuesday.
The Minnesota company said Tuesday that Chairman Stephen Hemsley will become CEO, effective immediately.
Hemsley was UnitedHealth Group CEO from 2006 to 2017. He will remain chairman of the company’s board. Witty will serve as a senior adviser to Hemsley.
“Leading the people of UnitedHealth Group has been a tremendous honor as they work every day to improve the health system, and they will continue to inspire me,” Witty said.
UnitedHealth said that it suspended its 2025 outlook as medical costs of many Medicare Advantage beneficiaries new to UnitedHealthcare were higher than expected.
More than 50 million people have health insurance under UnitedHealth Group Inc. It also has a large pharmacy benefit manager that runs prescription drug coverage and a growing Optum segment that delivers care and provides technical support.
UnitedHealthcare is the nation’s largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, with more than 8 million customers. Those are privately run versions of the federal government coverage program mostly for people ages 65 and older.
The company has wrestled with the media attention surrounding Luigi Mangione, who was indicted last month on a federal murder charge in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.