UnitedHealthcare names Tim Noel recent CEO after Brian Thompson killing

UnitedHealthcare on Thursday tapped company veteran Tim Noel as its recent CEO following the targeted killing of its former top executive, Brian Thompson, in Manhattan in December. 

Noel was the top of Medicare and retirement at UnitedHealthcare, the most important private health insurer within the U.S. It’s the insurance arm of UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s biggest health-care conglomerate based on revenue and its greater than $480 billion market cap. 

Noel, who first joined the corporate in 2007, “brings unparalleled experience to this role with a proven track record and robust commitment to improving how health care works for consumers, physicians, employers, governments and our other partners,” UnitedHealth Group said in an announcement.

The corporate remains to be reeling from the murder of Thompson, which unleashed a torrent of pent-up anger and resentment toward the insurance industry, renewed calls for reform and reignited a debate over health care within the U.S.

Amid concerns about physical safety, firms across the industry have beefed up security for his or her executives and removed their photos and far of their personal information from their web sites. That features UnitedHealth Group, which appears to not have an executive leadership page.

Luigi Mangione, who was charged within the deadly shooting, is currently being held without bond in Brooklyn, Recent York. Mangione, 26, faces charges including murder and terrorism, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

Noel oversaw a part of UnitedHealthcare’s business that features Medicare Advantage plans, which have been the source of skyrocketing costs for insurers. 

Medicare Advantage, a privately run medical health insurance plan contracted by Medicare, has long been a key source of growth and profits for the insurance industry. But medical costs from Medicare Advantage patients have jumped during the last 12 months as more seniors return to hospitals to undergo procedures they’d delayed in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare and retirement unit serves one-fifth of Medicare beneficiaries, or nearly 13.7 million patients, in line with a fact sheet from the corporate. 

UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty said on an earnings call last week that the profit-driven U.S. healthcare system “needs to operate higher” and be “less confusing, less complex and less expensive.”

Witty said members of the system profit from high prices, noting that lower prices and improved services may be good for patrons and patients but can “threaten revenue streams for organizations that rely upon charging more for care.” Nevertheless, Witty didn’t address to what extent UnitedHealth Group advantages from that model. 

In its first quarterly results because the killing, UnitedHealth Group reported fourth-quarter revenue that missed Wall Street’s expectations because of weakness in its insurance business.

The corporate’s 2024 revenue rose 8% to $400.3 billion, and it expects revenue to climb again this 12 months to a spread of $450 billion to $455 billion.

— CNBC’s Bertha Coombs contributed to this report