UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was tragically killed in Manhattan, New York on Wednesday, December 4th. Following this incident, some health insurance companies are reevaluating the security risks faced by their executives. Both UnitedHealthcare and its competitor, CVS Health, have removed photos of their leadership teams from their websites in light of the shooting.
According to Reuters, on Wednesday UnitedHealthcare removed the photos of Thompson and other executives from its website. CVS followed suit on Thursday by taking down all photos of their executives from their website. Both of these major health insurance companies have declined to comment on this action.
Two security experts have indicated that they expect health insurance companies to enhance the personal security of their executives.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, health insurance companies have been facing increasing public hostility. Consumer dissatisfaction with health insurance has been high in the United States for years. This year, health insurance companies have been striving to reduce costs and have discussed challenges they face, including broader coverage for medical services like surgeries or medications being more difficult to obtain quickly.
Robert D’Amico, founder of consultancy firm Sierra One Consulting, stated that he anticipates health insurance companies’ boards will reassess executives’ security plans. This will involve evaluating the scale of security personnel deployment while weighing costs. He mentioned that individuals like billionaire Elon Musk have 20 security personnel around them every day.
When asked by Reuters for comments regarding any adjustments being made or already made concerning executive security, companies such as Cigna, Elevance, Centene, and Molina did not respond to the requests.
Health insurance companies do not disclose details of executive security expenditures in their financial regulatory filings.