STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We go to New York, where police are searching for a person who killed the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Brian Thompson led the largest health insurer in the United States, and he was shot the morning of his employer's annual investors' conference. Authorities said he was targeted, and the shooting was planned.
INSKEEP: NPR's Maria Aspan is covering the story. Maria, good morning.
MARIA ASPAN, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: What have you learned?
ASPAN: So this was shocking.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
ASPAN: Yesterday morning, just before 7 a.m., Brian Thompson was shot as he approached a hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Police say this wasn't a random act of gun violence. The person who shot Thompson was waiting outside specifically for him. This is NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
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JESSICA TISCH: Every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack.
ASPAN: Police released surveillance footage and pictures of the alleged gunman. He was wearing dark clothing and a mask, and he used a pistol that appeared to have a silencer. Police say the gunman was waiting on the sidewalk for Thompson and shot him several times from behind as he walked by.
INSKEEP: Thanks for the detail about the silencer. I looked at that weapon on the video and thought, wow, that's a long barrel, and wondered if that's what that was. So thank you for that. Now, as far as the victim, who was Thompson?
ASPAN: So he was 50 years old. He lived outside Minneapolis with his wife and two kids, and he was a longtime executive at UnitedHealth Group. He joined the company two decades ago and worked his way up as the company grew bigger and more powerful. Three years ago, Thompson took over the unit called UnitedHealthcare. It has tens of millions of customers, and it made almost $300 billion in revenue last year. But it's important to point out that as big as this insurance business is, it's just part of the larger UnitedHealth parent company - one of the largest companies in the United States.
INSKEEP: Yeah. And, of course, we're asking these questions because we don't know who the gunman was. We don't know what the motive was. But, of course, you look into the affairs of this person who was shot. So what else does UnitedHealth own?
ASPAN: It touches pretty much every part of the U.S. health care experience, Steve. Another big business it owns is Optum, which manages pharmacy benefits, or you might remember the Change Healthcare hack earlier this year. That's also owned by UnitedHealth.
INSKEEP: OK.
ASPAN: United is also the largest employer of doctors in the entire country. It said last year that it employs or is affiliated with 90,000 physicians. That's 1 out of every 10 doctors in the country. So with this size and scale, UnitedHealth has drawn a lot of criticism and scrutiny from consumers and regulators and lawmakers, sometimes over how it wields its power. Just last month, we saw the Justice Department file an antitrust lawsuit trying to block UnitedHealth from buying yet another business - for $3 billion.
INSKEEP: Health insurance companies make a lot of people angry. They reject claims. They do a lot of things that enrage people. Isn't that - don't they get a lot of threats?
ASPAN: Yes, health care executives receive a ton of threats. And part of that, Steve, as you said, is the general anger and frustration so many feel over health care in the United States. The country has the most expensive health care in the developed world and some of the worst health outcomes. And since UnitedHealth is the biggest health care company, it's a key part of that system, so it gets blamed by a lot of people when the system doesn't work.
INSKEEP: NPR's Maria Aspan in New York City. Thanks so much.
ASPAN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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