Brian earned $15m a year at a billion-dollar company. No one knew him – till he was shot dead

New York: Brian Thompson led one of the biggest health insurers in the US but was unknown to millions of people his decisions affected.

Then, the targeted fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare chief executive on a Midtown Manhattan pavement thrust the executive and his business into the spotlight.

Brian Thompson’s business generated $US281 billion ($437 billion) in revenue last year. Credit: AP

Thompson, who was 50, had worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group Inc for 20 years and ran the insurance arm since 2021 after running its Medicare and retirement business.

As chief executive, Thompson led a firm that provides health coverage to more than 49 million Americans.

United is the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, the privately run versions of the US government’s Medicare program for people age 65 and older.

The company also sells individual insurance and administers health insurance coverage for thousands of employers and state and federally funded Medicaid programs.

Thompson’s wife, Paulette, told NBC News that he had received some threats, though she did not know specifics.

“Basically, I don’t know – a lack of coverage?” she said, appearing to allude to a potential insurance-related motive, according to the network. “I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”

Medical coverage is a source of controversy in the US, where many insurance policies are linked to employment. An estimated 26 million people, or 8 per cent of the population, lacked health insurance in 2023, the Commonwealth Fund reports.

Police investigate the scene of the shooting outside the Hilton in Midtown Manhattan.Credit: AP

Eric Werner, the police chief in the Minneapolis suburb where Thompson lived, said his department had not received any reports of threats against the executive.

Thompson’s business generated $US281 billion ($437 billion) in revenue last year, making it the largest subsidiary of the Minnetonka, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group. His $US10.2 million annual pay package, including salary, bonus, and stock options awards, made him one of the company’s highest-paid executives.

The University of Iowa graduate began his career as a certified public accountant at PwC and had little name recognition beyond the healthcare industry. Even to investors who own its stock, the parent company’s face belonged to chief executive Andrew Witty, a knighted British triathlete who has testified before Congress.

When Thompson did occasionally draw attention, it was because of his role in shaping the way Americans get healthcare.

At an investor meeting last year, he outlined his company’s shift to “value-based care”, paying doctors and other caregivers to keep patients healthy rather than focusing on treating them once sick.

“Healthcare should be easier for people,” Thompson said at the time.

Thompson also drew attention in 2021 when the insurer, like its competitors, was widely criticised for a plan to start denying payment for what it deemed non-critical visits to hospital emergency rooms.

“Patients are not medical experts and should not be expected to self-diagnose during what they believe is a medical emergency,” the chief executive of the American Hospital Association wrote in an open letter addressed to Thompson. “Threatening patients with a financial penalty for making the wrong decision could have a chilling effect on seeking emergency care.”

United Healthcare responded by delaying the rollout of the change.

Thompson, who lived in a Minneapolis suburb and was a married father of two sons in high school, was set to speak at an investor meeting being held at the Hilton Hotel in Midtown, New York.

He was on his own and about to enter the building when he was shot in the back by a masked assailant who fled on foot before pedalling an e-bike into Central Park a few blocks away, the New York Police Department said.

Authorities believe it was a targeted killing, and the gunman used a silencer on his weapon.

Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said investigators were looking at Thompson’s social media accounts and interviewing employees and family members.

AP

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