By Michael Erman

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth’s insurance division, was fatally shot in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning in a targeted attack by a masked assailant who was lying in wait just before parent company Hilton’s annual investor conference, according to police -Hotel.

Thompson, 50, had been with the company for 20 years and had been CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the large insurance unit of UnitedHealth Group, since April 2021. Here’s what you need to know about UnitedHealthcare:

WHAT IS UNITEDHEALTHCARE’S BUSINESS?

UnitedHealthcare is the largest U.S. health insurer, serving more than 50 million Americans. The Company offers benefit plans that fund most routine health care and care for customers who become ill or injured. The unit had revenue of $281.4 billion in 2023, nearly twice as much as the second-largest U.S. health insurer. Americans routinely pay more for health care than people in any other country.

HOW DOES IT FIT INTO THE UNITEDHEALTH GROUP?

UnitedHealth Group is a $560 billion healthcare group comprised of two primary subsidiaries. In addition to the insurance business led by Thompson, there is Optum, which includes a pharmacy benefit manager, specialty pharmacy, data analytics, and medical and surgical practices.

This includes technology company Change, which was the target of a cyberattack this year that affected thousands of providers and millions of healthcare customers.

The entire company had sales of $371.6 billion last year. Sir Andrew Witty became CEO of UnitedHealth Group in 2021 after previously leading Optum. He was previously CEO of the British pharmaceutical company GSK from 2008 to 2017.

HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES UNITEDHEALTHCARE HIDDEN AND WHERE?

The company offered health insurance to more than 50.6 million people at the end of the third quarter, including 49.3 million people across the United States. Nearly 30 million are enrolled in employer or other commercial insurance, 15.3 million in government-sponsored Medicare plans, primarily for people age 65 and older under Medicare Advantage programs, and 4.3 million in Medicaid plans Low-income people. The company’s global business benefits customers in more than 150 other countries, it said in its annual report.

Under Thompson, UnitedHealthcare increased the number of people it serves domestically to approximately 44 million people when he took over as CEO in April 2021.

How profitable is it?

In 2023, the insurance business generated $16.4 billion, nearly a third more than in 2020, the year before Thompson took over as CEO.

(Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Bill Berkrot)