Jonathan Limehouse, USA TODAY
4 min read
UnitedHealth Group's CEO will step down, and a familiar face will be taking the helm of the company, which said it "expects to return to growth in 2026" despite higher-than-expected medical costs and a tumultuous 2024 capped off by the murder of a high-ranking executive.
Andrew Witty’s departure as CEO is due to "personal reasons," UnitedHealth Group announced on May 13. The company tapped Stephen J. Hemsley, who served as its CEO from 2006 to 2017, to replace the outgoing executive.
Although Witty will no longer be CEO, he will serve as senior adviser to Hemsley, who will remain chairman of the company's board of directors.
“We are grateful for Andrew’s stewardship of UnitedHealth Group, especially during some of the most challenging times any company has ever faced,” Hemsley said in a news release. “The Board and I have greatly valued his leadership and compassion as chief executive and as a director and wish him and his family the best."
As CEO, Hemsley said the company will look to return to its "long-term growth objective of 13 to 16 percent."
"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.
In addition to the leadership change, the company said it's suspending its 2025 outlook, partially because of the medical costs of many Medicare Advantage beneficiaries new to UnitedHealthcare remaining "higher than expected." This decision led to shares of the health care giant declining more than 10% in morning trading.
Shares of the company also dropped in February, when the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Justice Department was investigating UnitedHealth's Medicare billing practices. The civil fraud investigation is looking into the company's practices for recording diagnoses that trigger extra payments to its Medicare Advantage plans, the WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter.
As of 1:15 p.m. ET on May 13, UnitedHealth Group's stock sat below $320 after dropping more than 15% on Tuesday.
With UnitedHealth Group looking toward the future, many are still grappling with a tumultuous year for the company.
In 2024, UnitedHealth Group was at the center of the largest-ever health industry data breach, and it garnered public scrutiny after the killing of Brian Thompson, the CEO of the company’s insurance unit, UnitedHealthcare.
Regarding the data breach in February 2024, the company said in January that hackers stole records of about 190 million people in the cyberattack on its Change Healthcare subsidiary. The health care giant's updated figure is nearly twice as large as its previous estimate of 100 million victims.
