Before shooting, Brian Thompson worried about UnitedHealth’s negative image

Early in 2024, Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, issued a dire warning to his coworkers: The company is having a PR crisis.

Thompson contended in internal meetings and with other executives that the average American was unaware of the large insurance company’s involvement in the country’s healthcare system, including the actions it had taken to remove out-of-pocket expenses for life-saving medications, according to colleagues. Instead, allegations that UnitedHealthcare and its parent company, UnitedHealth Group, were profiting billions by refusing medical care to the elderly and sick led to investigations, a congressional probe, and brewing consumer ire.

“He recognized that the public was angry about what they thought the company was doing,” one individual who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential business discussions said. He actively worked to develop a vision that would better inform and clarify the company’s operations. “.”.

The company’s anger was a contributing factor on Dec. 4. According to authorities, Thompson was en route to UnitedHealth’s annual investor conference when 26-year-old Ivy League graduate Luigi Mangione allegedly shot and killed the executive in Midtown Manhattan. According to police, Mangione was driven by resentment of the American healthcare system and seemed to have singled out Thompson due to UnitedHealth’s size.

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An account of the shooting at UnitedHealthcare.

In connection with the shooting at UnitedHealthcare, Luigi Mangione, 26, was charged with murder. Here is what we know about the deceased CEO, Brian Thompson, and stay tuned for our updates on the investigation.

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Thompson’s warning of animosity fueled online backlash as the murder investigation progressed. It was said that Mangione was a folk hero. People wrote that there was “out of network” sympathy for Thompson, his surviving wife, and their kids. New York City saw the appearance of anti-CEO “Wanted” posters featuring a large red X slicing Thompson’s face.

Angry coworkers and friends claim that the online caricature is completely different from the person they knew, a popular executive who rose from his family’s modest farm outside of Jewell, Iowa, to the top of the corporate ladder on his own dime. Numerous people who spoke to The Washington Post under anonymity talked about their private business discussions with Thompson.

In December, the two men whose lives allegedly collided on the dim street in Manhattan. 4. The routes taken by the shooter and the victim to get there were remarkably different. In spite of his criticism of big business, Mangione was raised in a wealthy Maryland family that owned upscale golf courses and assisted living facilities; he went to a posh private all-boys school. Thompson played golf on a nine-hole course under the shadow of the grain elevator in his town while attending a small public high school.

This year, Thompson told coworkers, “I try not to draw too many distinctions between work and life and maybe that’s growing up on a farm in Iowa,” according to evidence released by UnitedHealth Group. I wasn’t raised in an environment where these things were kept apart. “.”.

A small farmer who worked at the local grain elevator raised him as the youngest of two sons. According to Jewell friends, he spent his summers fishing at the nearby lake and “walking beans,” which is the term used on prairie farms to describe weeding soybean fields. Former health and physical education teacher and current principal Todd Coy said he was valedictorian and homecoming king at South Hamilton High School, where he excelled academically.

He was undoubtedly a perfectionist, according to Coy. It was insufficient to receive an “A” on an exam. Could the question have been phrased differently? He wanted to know why he missed it. He put a lot of effort into himself. “”.

In May 1997, Thompson earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in accounting from the University of Iowa, where he continued to achieve academic success. Prior to starting a position at UnitedHealth Group in Minnesota in 2004, he briefly worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

As Thompson advanced swiftly through the ranks of the biggest health-care company in America, he was able to influence the country’s healthcare system, including during the critical coronavirus pandemic, according to associates.

In March 2020, during the nationwide shutdown, Congress allocated billions of dollars for emergency payments to health-care organizations that were having trouble making payroll. However, federal officials failed to locate a partner capable of delivering the funds to organizations in dire need. Thompson assured federal officials that the banking division of his enormous corporation could send emergency funds to hospitals and other providers in as little as one week.

Stephen Parente, a professor of finance at the University of Minnesota and a former health official in the Trump administration who collaborated with Thompson at the time, said, “In the face of so many people saying this can’t be done, honestly, Brian was the guy who made it happen.”.

The UnitedHealth-backed fund, which was credited with keeping thousands of hospitals and other healthcare providers afloat during the pandemic, would disburse more than $135 billion.

After creating the payments, Thompson would be promoted to the top position at UnitedHealthcare, the biggest health insurance company in the country, which covers roughly 50 million Americans. Colleagues have claimed that he would make “consumerism” his main priority, frequently bringing up the necessity for the large insurer to concentrate on individual patients.

In public remarks in November 2022, Thompson stated, “We know that millions of our members experience complex health issues each year, throughout the year.”. “We can contribute to the load. “.”.

In recent interviews, colleagues spoke tearfully about Thompson’s life and work, saying that’s the Thompson they remember.

Under Thompson’s leadership, UnitedHealthcare turned down far too many requests for care, according to patient advocacy groups, which have cast a negative light on his tenure. He was one of the highest-paid executives at UnitedHealth Group, receiving a $10–2 million compensation package the previous year.

Nearly every family in the United States has experienced care denials, according to research we’ve been working on for the past two years. A. last week, Sulma Arias, executive director of the left-leaning People’s Action Institute, a nonprofit advocacy group, said, “will feel the outrage of having a doctor prescribe a treatment only to have an insurance company like UnitedHealthcare get in the way.

UnitedHealth has defended its medical claim handling record, claiming that there has been “misinformation” going around regarding how frequently it refuses care.

A late Friday statement from the company stated that approximately 90 percent of medical claims are paid by the insurance division at the time of submission. Only 0–5% of those who are subjected to further review do so “for medical or clinical reasons,” according to UnitedHealth.

Although they acknowledge UnitedHealth’s scrutiny, Thompson’s allies argue that the company shouldn’t be solely held responsible for the complexity of the healthcare system. Many of the price increases that consumers attribute to their insurance providers, they said, can be linked to increases in hospital and physician fees, which are subsequently passed on to patients.

Andrew Witty, the CEO of UnitedHealth, stated in a Friday opinion piece in the New York Times that “we need to improve how we explain what insurance covers and how decisions are made, together with employers, governments, and others who pay for care.”. According to the individuals who spoke with Thompson, the article captures the essence of his private arguments.

According to colleagues, despite his powerful position, Thompson did not actively pursue media attention and frequently sat in the background while Witty spoke. Thompson had a habit of chewing gum all the time and was known to use foul language inside the company. His informal, unassuming demeanor helped him connect with staff members from all levels of the organization.

According to a former coworker, “his small-town Iowa upbringing enabled him to be particularly effective intersecting with everyone.”. In the world, he was the most modest man. “”.

Over the past few months, UnitedHealthcare has been under constant pressure. The inspector general’s office at the Department of Health and Human Services reported last year that the company and others had high rates of prior authorization denials for patients in Medicaid-managed care plans. UnitedHealthcare and other insurance companies were criticized in a Senate report published in October for consistently rejecting requests from Medicare Advantage patients. Additionally, Thompson had been sued for allegedly engaging in insider trading.

In his private life, there were indications of stress. He was arrested, found guilty of driving under the influence, and given a probationary sentence in 2017. He started living apart from his wife and two boys after buying a house nearby in 2018, according to neighbors.

His wife, Paulette, a physical therapist, had told the Minnesota Star Tribune that her husband was a wonderful person who lived life to the fullest and had a big heart. “Everyone will miss him very much. This news has completely devastated us and broken our hearts. Many lives were impacted by him. “.”.

He was a “really engaged dad” with his two sons throughout, according to the colleague, attending Minnesota Timberwolves games with his oldest son, who was about to leave for college, and watching their own games from the stands.

“Knowing that they could look up and see their dad was really important to him,” he stated.

Jewell, a small town of 1,100 people, is still in shock over the death of its favorite son and the stereotype of a villain that has surfaced online. According to friends, his mother Pat continues to cut hair in the community after his father Dennis passed away last year. Requests for comment were denied by the family.

According to Rick Young, a Hamilton County supervisor and close friend of the family, “I can tell you when he was in this community, he was taught right from wrong.”. We have no control over what occurs after that. You will have to make difficult choices and face opposition once you reach that point. That’s a fact of life and the world. “.”.

News outlets reported that Thompson was honored in a private ceremony in Minnesota this past week. Young stated that although Jewell residents would have preferred to have a memorial service of some sort, the pressure from the national media attention was too great.