Insurance stocks have fallen since the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
A banner reading “Deny Defend Depose Health Care 4 All” hangs from an overpass along the southbound lane of I-83.
Lloyd Fox | Baltimore Sun | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
Major insurance stocks have fallen more than 6% since their closing prices last Tuesday, the day before the fatal shooting of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealth Group‘s insurance branch in Midtown Manhattan.
These include UnitedHealth, CVS Health And Cignawhich operate three of the country’s largest private health insurers. Thompson, 50, led UnitedHealthcare, the largest private payer of health care services in the United States
Luigi Mangione, 26, is accused of fatally shooting Thompson early Wednesday last week outside the Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan as the CEO went to UnitedHealth Group’s investor day. Investigators said Mangione was a critic of the health care industry, a view some Americans sympathized with online in the days after Thompson’s death.
The companies’ stock performance appears to be a response to “renewed rhetoric” condemning insurers’ business models that see them “become incredibly profitable at different points of the year at the expense of some patients,” said Mizuho healthcare expert Jared Holz . care equity strategist said in an interview.
He noted that this is not a new issue in the industry, which many Americans blame for rising health care costs.
“I think the reaction from investors was, ‘Do we want to own this category of stocks now that the industry is being negatively targeted again?'” Holz said.
UnitedHealthcare, similar to other major insurers, has faced lawsuits and criticism from regulators, lawmakers and patients alike for allegedly denying claims to maximize profits. Americans have criticized insurance companies for, among other things, denials of coverage for services or treatments, unexpected bills, high out-of-pocket costs and the dizzying complexity of navigating insurance coverage.
While backlash against the industry has increased since the shooting, Holz said the negative stock reaction will likely be “pretty short-lived.” He added that he did not expect insurance companies to make significant changes to their policies in response to the murder.
“With this in mind, do I think companies are making proactive changes? No,” said Wood.
Booking photo by Luigi Mangione in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
Source: PA Department of Corrections
New York prosecutors charged Mangione with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a loaded weapon and other crimes on Monday evening, hours after his arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The New York indictment followed Mangione’s first court appearance in Pennsylvania on gun and document forgery charges.
Mangione, a private school valedictorian and Ivy League graduate who belongs to an influential Maryland family, was held without bail following his arraignment Monday night.
In a court hearing Tuesday afternoon, Mangione refused to waive his right to challenge his extradition to New York City. A judge denied Mangione bail and sent him back to a Pennsylvania prison.
At the time of his arrest, Mangione was carrying handwritten pages criticizing the U.S. health care industry and singling out UnitedHealthcare, law enforcement officials told NBC News.
“I apologize for any disruption or trauma, but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites just had it,” Mangione wrote, NBC reported.
Authorities are still investigating the motive for the shooting, which “will come to light as this investigation continues over the next few weeks and months,” New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Tuesday on NBC’s “TODAY.” However, she noted that Mangione’s note had “an anti-corporatist sentiment and a lot of issues with the healthcare industry.”
