The CEO of UnitedHealth Group said Thursday that shortcomings of America\u2019s health care system must be addressed.<\/p>\n
On the company\u2019s first earnings call since the fatal shooting of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson, CEO Andrew Witty said that while the U.S. provides world-leading care in many respects, there are systemic flaws that are working to drive up health costs for people in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe health system needs to function better,\u201d he said, adding that the \u201cvariety\u201d of state, federal and private sector structures and programs have created a \u201cconfusing,\u201d \u201ccomplex\u201d and \u201ccostly\u201d health care landscape.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Witty began the call expressing gratitude for the condolences received in the wake of Thompson\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of you knew Brian personally,\u201d Witty said, referring to the investors on the call. \u201cYou knew how much he meant to all of us and how he devoted his time to help make the health system work better for all of the people we\u2019re privileged to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n
The suspect charged in Thompson\u2019s killing, Luigi Mangione, is currently being held without bond in Brooklyn. He faces capital murder charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While past UnitedHealth earnings calls have featured general remarks about the company\u2019s desire to deliver improved outcomes for its customers, Witty\u2019s comments Thursday acknowledged the broader debate about the state of U.S. health care that has emerged in the wake of Thompson\u2019s shooting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Witty\u2019s remarks came as United Health reported record 2024 revenues. Shortly before Thompson was killed, its stock price was at an all-time high.<\/p>\n
Prior to addressing the company\u2019s financial performance, Witty discussed some of the shortcomings of the profit-driven model of U.S. health care head on.<\/p>\n
\u201cParticipants in the system,\u201d he said, derive benefit from high health care costs. While lower prices and improved services can be good for consumers and patients, Witty said, they can \u201cthreaten revenue streams for organizations that depend on charging more for care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Witty did not discuss to what extent UnitedHealth itself was a beneficiary of such circumstances.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When it comes to drug costs, for example, he said U.S. health care participants \u201cpay disproportionately more than people in other countries,\u201d citing the cost of the weight loss drug GLP, which he said in Europe costs approximately one-tenth its price in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Witty directly blamed drug companies for discrepancies like those, while stating that UnitedHealth\u2019s pharmacy-benefit managers (PBM), who help negotiate retail drug prices and who have come under increasing public pressure for their role in setting drug prices, continue to work to pass savings on to customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
UnitedHealth\u2019s improved PBM performance \u201cwill help make more transparent who is really responsible for drug pricing in this country: the drug companies themselves,\u201d Witty said, without elaborating.<\/p>\n
In a statement late Thursday, a representative for PhRMA, which represents drug companies, pushed back on Witty\u2019s assertion.<\/p>\n
\u2018Congress, the FTC, state attorneys general, and others who have looked at this issue have all come to the same conclusion that PBM abuses are driving up costs,\u2019 Alex Schriver, PhRMA senior vice president of public affairs, said in an email. <\/p>\n
\u2018Investigations have exposed big insurer and PBM companies for charging thousands of different prices for the same medicines at the same time. The FTC just released a second report showing the same companies mark up medicines at their own pharmacies 10 times or more.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018These big health care conglomerates make billions in profit from controlling what medicines people get, the price they pay and what pharmacy they can use. That\u2019s why there\u2019s unprecedented bipartisan support for holding them accountable.\u2019<\/p>\n
For the quarter, UnitedHealth reported worse-than-expected results, sending its shares down more than 4% Thursday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHealth care in every country is complex and the solutions are not simple, but you should expect this company to continue to work at it,\u201d Witty stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CORRECTION<\/strong> (Jan. 16, 2025, 9 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated how much the weight loss drug GLP costs. It is one-tenth of its U.S. price in Europe, not one-tenth less.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The CEO of UnitedHealth Group said Thursday that shortcomings of America\u2019s health care system must be addressed. On the company\u2019s first earnings call since the fatal shooting of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson, CEO Andrew Witty said that while the U.S. provides world-leading care in many respects, there are systemic flaws that are working to drive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":14104,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}