Sir Andrew Witty has abruptly stepped down as chief executive of United Health Group, one of America’s biggest healthcare companies, for “personal reasons”.
Witty, a former boss of GSK, has endured a tumultuous time as leader of the $289 billion New York-listed group, including the fatal shooting in December of Brian Thompson, the head of its insurance business, criticism of American healthcare costs and access, a cyberattack and a slump in its share price. He has stepped down amid the suspension of its annual financial forecasts.
Witty, 60, has been replaced immediately by Stephen Hemsley, 72, the group chairman and a previous long-serving chief executive credited with building United Health into a diversified healthcare company.
“We are grateful for Andrew’s stewardship of United Health Group, especially during some of the most challenging times any company has ever faced,” Hemsley said. “The board and I have greatly valued his leadership and compassion as chief executive and as a director and wish him and his family the best.”
Witty, a former chancellor of the University of Nottingham, was chief executive of GSK, one of Britain’s two big pharmaceutical groups, from 2008 to 2017, having joined the company in 1985. He was appointed to lead United Health in 2021 and will remain as a senior adviser to Hemsley.
The Minnesota-based group and the wider US healthcare industry have come under intense scrutiny since Brian Thompson, the head of its insurance business, was killed outside a Hilton hotel in Manhattan on his way to the company’s annual investor meeting.
The shooting unleashed hostility from Americans struggling to receive and afford medical care and criticism of so-called middlemen pharmacy-benefit managers, part of the healthcare system under scrutiny by the Trump presidency as it launches a renewed campaign to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
After the shooting, Witty wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times, saying that while he understood American frustrations with the country’s flawed healthcare system — “a patchwork built over decades” — the company was “struggling to make sense of this unconscionable act and the vitriol that has been directed at our colleagues who have been barraged by threats”.
Witty is reported to have often worked from the UK or the company’s Washington offices.
His departure was announced alongside United Health suspending its 2025 outlook, which it attributed to an increase and broadening in healthcare demands since the first quarter and higher medical costs.
The pulling of its guidance came after it lowered its annual outlook in April, triggering a further sell-off in its shares on Wall Street, the price of which was down more than 15 per cent in late-morning trading. The stock has slumped by more than a third over the past 12 months. United Health said it expected to return to growth in 2026.
As well as owning United Healthcare, America’s largest health insurer, covering 49 million people in the US, the group’s other businesses span pharmacy benefit management, software and practices. The downturn in its performance had raised speculation over possible Democrat pressure for a potential break-up of the group.
One healthcare industry analyst said: “It is not often you see abrupt exits like this, but clearly it’s been an unimaginably challenging period for the leadership team and all the UHG employees.”
