UnitedHealth Group

In February 2008, the company acquired Sierra Health Services for $2.6 billion. As part of the transaction, to obtain regulatory approval, 25,000 customers were sold to Humana. In July 2009, UnitedHealth Group agreed to acquire Health Net's Northeast licensed subsidiaries for up to $570 million in payments spread out over two years.

2010s

Through 2010 and into 2011, senior executives of the company met monthly with executives of other health insurers to limit the effect of the health care reform law. In July 2010, Ingenix acquired Picis Clinical Solutions, Inc., a health information provider for the high-acuity areas of hospitals. In 2011, Logistics Health, Inc. of La Crosse, Wisconsin, was acquired by OptumHealth. In September 2014, the office buildings where LHI is based were sold to UnitedHealth Group for $45 million. In February 2012, the company acquired XLHealth, a sponsor of Medicare Advantage health plans with a primary focus on medicare recipients with special needs such as those with chronic illness and those eligible for Medicaid ("dual eligibles"). In October 2012, UnitedHealth Group and Amil Participações, one of the biggest Brazilian health insurance companies, completed the first phase of their merger.

In February 2014, Optum secured a majority stake in the Washington, D.C.–based startup Audax Health. Audax's CEO, Grant Verstandig, continued running the firm alongside COO David Ko. In October 2014, Optum Health acquired the health services unit of Alere for $600 million cash.

In March 2015, it was announced that CatamaranRx would be acquired by OptumRx. In April 2016, the company announced it was pulling out of all but a "handful" of state healthcare exchanges provided under Affordable Care Act and will continue to sell only in three states in 2017.

In 2017, UnitedHealth's Optum unit acquired Rally Health, a company started by Audax Health's executives. Prior to acquisition, in 2015, UnitedHealth supported Rally Health as a majority investor, and through enrolling more than 5 million UnitedHealth policy holders in Rally Health's flagship product, Rally. The close relations between UnitedHealth, Audax Health and Rally Health follows a close personal relationship between Grant Verstandig (Audax and Rally) and UnitedHealth's President and CFO at the time, David Wichmann.

In June 2019, UnitedHealth's Optum division acquired DaVita Medical Group from DaVita, Inc. for $4.3 billion. That year, the company also agreed to acquire Equian for $3.2 billion. On June 19, 2019, UnitedHealth acquired the online patient community platform PatientsLikeMe for an undisclosed amount and it will be incorporated into UnitedHealth Group's research division.

In November 2019, Andrew Witty was named president of UnitedHealth Group, in addition to his role as chief executive of the company's Optum division.

2020s–present

UnitedHealth announced in March 2022 that it would acquire LHC Group for $5.4 billion. The deal will expand its home health capabilities by combining LHC's services with UnitedHealth's Optum unit.

In 2022, UnitedHealth Group said there would be no out-of-pocket costs for albuterol, epinephrine, glucagon, insulin, and naloxone for fully insured members starting in 2023. The discounts were guaranteed for less than a quarter of UnitedHealthcare's membership and did not extend to those enrolled in UHC's Medicare Advantage and Medicaid plans.

In 2023, UnitedHealthGroup announced it would move its headquarters from Minnetonka to Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

In February 2024, UnitedHealth Group completed the sale of its operations in Brazil.

In January 2021, UnitedHealth announced the acquisition of Change Healthcare, the largest health payments platform in the US, which the US Justice Department tried to block on antitrust grounds in February 2022; the sale went through by September. 18 months later, in February 2024, the subsidiary was brought completely down by the 2024 Change Healthcare ransomware attack, and the Justice Department announced that it was opening a new antitrust and Medicare overcharging probe. Despite making a ransomware payment, services remained down or incomplete for months. The CEO, Andrew Witty, was called before the US House and US Senate to testify about the cyberattack and DoJ concerns. In late April 2024, the Senate held a hearing concerning the cyberattack and UnitedHealth's response. Andrew Witty went before the Senate stating that there needed to be a strong digital security system in place along with an adequate backup plan. UnitedHealth revealed the hackers did gain access to patient information, but the Senate was informed the company is not yet aware of the extent of the data breach.

Killing of Brian Thompson

On December 4, 2024, Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group's insurance subsidiary UnitedHealthcare, was killed in a shooting in New York City. The shooting occurred outside the New York Hilton Midtown, where UnitedHealth Group was hosting an investor event. Reactions to the shooting on social media were defined by resentment and criticism of UnitedHealthcare, the American health insurance system, and widespread disdain towards Thompson. Police later arrested a suspect, Luigi Mangione, and charged him with murder. Tim Noel joined UnitedHealthcare in 2007 and succeeded Brian Thompson as the CEO. Prior to becoming CEO, Noel was in charge of UnitedHealthcare's Medicare Advantage plans.

Further events

In November 2025, Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, joined UnitedHealth Group's board of directors.

In June 2026, UnitedHealth Group announced plans to invest $3 billion in artificial intelligence in 2026 and 2027.

In October 2026, UnitedHealth Group reported third-quarter revenue of about $112.7 billion and adjusted earning of $4.69 per share. Following these results, the company raised its full-year adjusted earnings forecast to at least $20.50 per share.

Foundations

Foundations affiliated with UnitedHealth Group include the UnitedHealth Foundation (UHF) and the UnitedHealthcare Children's Foundation (UHCCF), both of which were established in 1999.

UHF pledged $100 million over ten years to fund scholarships and workforce development programs focused on increasing ethnic and racial diversity within the health care industry. UHF's investment will support 10,000 physicians from underrepresented communities: 5,000 students with a primary care focus and 5,000 physicians who want to advance careers in mental health, nursing, midwifery and medicine. The work of this fund is part of a broader initiative in which UnitedHealth Group has teamed up with nine organizations to provide scholarships to more than 3,000 students through the Diverse Scholars Initiative.

UHCCF administers grants to help pay for medical costs for families with coverage gaps. According to UHCCF, the foundation raises money for medical grants by selling gift items such as backpacks, books, cards, and games, some of which are created by children.

On October 27, 2009, Cuomo announced the creation of FAIR Health, an independent, non-profit organization that would develop a nationwide database for consumer reimbursement, as well as a website where consumers would be able to compare prices before choosing doctors. To fund FAIR Health, the Attorney General's office secured nearly $100 million from insurers such as Aetna, UnitedHealth Group, and Anthem Inc.

PacifiCare fine in California

In 2008, the California Department of Insurance took action against UnitedHealthcare's subsidiary PacifiCare Health Systems, acquired in 2005, ultimately fining UnitedHealthcare around $173 million for an estimated over 900,000 violations of the Unfair Insurance Practices Act; by 2019, the case was still being disputed in court, with the possibility of affirming $91 million in penalties.

Medicare overbilling lawsuit

A whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2011 charged UnitedHealth Group's data analytics division with assisting in defrauding Medicare by boosting risk adjustment scores from Medicare Advantage companies. The suit alleged that UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Ingenix (now OptumInsight) "defrauded the United States of hundreds of millions – and likely billions – of dollars". Former UnitedHealth executive Benjamin Poehling brought the suit under the False Claims Act. The government said it would proceed on claims against two healthcare companies, UnitedHealth and its Texas subsidiary WellMed Medical Management. In February 2017, a federal judge unsealed the suit after the Department of Justice announced it would join the case.

CMS fine over Medicare Part D

In 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) fined UnitedHealthcare $2.5 million after discovering issues in Medicare Part D leading to delays or denials in a 2016 audit.

2018 New Jersey fine

In 2018, the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance fined UnitedHealthcare $2.5 million due to various compliance issues; this was the largest fine against a licensee in nine years.

Richard Cole, and others v. UnitedHealthcare

On April 29, 2019, Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, a cancer survivor, recused himself from a case against UnitedHealthcare, stating that the company's denial of treatment was "immoral and barbaric", and that his opinions regarding the company would prevent him from "deciding this case fairly and impartially".

Mental health treatment lawsuit

As reported by openminds.com:

On September 13, 2019, three addiction and mental health treatment centers sued United Behavioral Health (UBH), UnitedHealthcare's mental health subsidiary. The centers alleged that UBH wrongfully denied $5 million in behavioral health treatment claims for self-insured and fully insured employer health plans for residential and outpatient treatment from 2011 to 2017. The case involves claims for 157 employer group health plan members, including children.

Pennsylvania lawsuit

In 2019, UnitedHealthcare paid a $1 million penalty to settle Pennsylvania regulators' allegations that the company violated state and federal laws when paying medical claims, particularly for patients seeking treatment for autism and substance use disorders. The regulators also compelled the company to pay restitution for wrongly denied or delayed claims and to spend $800,000 on an outreach campaign to notify consumers of their mental health and substance use disorder benefits.

Dispute with TeamHealth

In late 2021, Tennessee-based physician network TeamHealth, a subsidiary of the private equity company Blackstone Inc., sued UnitedHealthcare in the 8th District Court of Clark County, Nevada, alleging the insurer underpaid claims to three of TeamHealth's Nevada-based affiliates. In November 2021, the jury unanimously found United guilty of "oppression, fraud, and malice" in its conduct and awarded TeamHealth $2.65 million in compensatory damages. In December, the jury reconvened to determine punitive damages and awarded TeamHealth $60 million. TeamHealth plans to pursue similar legal action against United and other insurers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Medicare Advantage overbilling

An October 2021 New York Times report identified UnitedHealth in a list of Medicare insurers accused of over-billing. According to the Inspector General, a whistleblower came forward, so the U.S. government went after UnitedHealth for over-billing Medicare. Executives at UnitedHealth Group told workers to mine old medical records for more illnesses, to identify diagnoses of serious diseases that might have never existed, inflating bills paid by the federal government's Medicare Advantage program.

A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that in 2021, Medicare Advantage programs provided insurers with double the gross margin of insurance for individuals, groups, or Medicaid Managed Care.

In July 2024, the Wall Street Journal concluded that UnitedHealth was the worst offender among private insurers who made dubious diagnoses in their clients in order to trigger large payments from the government's Medicare Advantage program. The patients often did not receive any treatment for those insurer-added diagnoses. The report, based on Medicare data obtained from the federal government under a research agreement, calculated that diagnoses added by UnitedHealth for diseases patients had never been treated for had yielded $8.7 billion in payments to the company in 2021 – over half of its net income of $17 billion for that year.

In July 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that United States Department of Justice officials were interviewing former UnitedHealth employees in connection with the investigation, and later that month, UnitedHealth confirmed that it was under criminal and civil federal investigation for its Medicare practices. The company said it cooperated with those probes after reaching out to the DOJ.

Change Healthcare acquisition

In February 2022, the United States Department of Justice sued to stop UnitedHealth Group's $8 billion acquisition of Change Healthcare, arguing that the deal would give UnitedHealth access to its competitors' data and ultimately push up healthcare costs. The Justice Department said that UnitedHealth knew that access to claims would give it a view into rival health plans at Humana, Anthem Inc, CVS Health, Aetna, and Cigna. A U.S. judge rejected the department's bid in September. Following the completion of the acquisition in October 2022, the parties agreed that the appeal would be voluntarily dismissed, with no reasons provided by the Justice Department for dropping the appeal.

Insider trading lawsuit

In May 2024, the City of Hollywood Firefighters Pension Fund sued UnitedHealth Group for alleged insider trading, claiming that then-Board Chair and future chairman and CEO Stephen Hemsley and then-UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson had sold millions of dollars worth of shares in UHG since October 2023 with foreknowledge that the United States Department of Justice were investigating them.

Use of algorithmic AI model to deny claims

UnitedHealth Group has faced a lawsuit over its use of an algorithmic AI model created by naviHealth, which UnitedHealth acquired in 2020, to deny claims. The lawsuit alleged that the model, named nH Predict, had a 90% error rate. A spokesperson for UnitedHealth denied that they use the model to deny claims when questioned by The Guardian.

Secret payments to nursing homes

In May 2025, The Guardian published an investigative report which uncovered a systemic effort by UnitedHealth to secretly pay nursing homes bonuses to deny hospital transfers for nursing home residents who needed immediate hospital care. Other tactics uncovered by The Guardian include UnitedHealth managers pressuring nurse practitioners to persuade members to sign onto Do not resuscitate agreements and payments for leaking confidential patient data to UnitedHealth sales teams. In June, UnitedHealth sued The Guardian for defamation over the findings of their article.

Campaign against critics

In July 2025, a New York Times investigation revealed that UnitedHealth Group, with the help of the law firm Clare Locke, had made legal threats against journalists, social media users and healthcare professionals who criticized their policies and practices. UnitedHealth also made take-down requests to social media companies hosting content critical of them.

Massachusetts Medicaid fraud lawsuit

In May 2026, the state of Massachusetts sued UnitedHealth for defrauding MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program, of $100 million by making older patients seem more seriously ill than they actually were.