UnitedHealth CEO steps down for ‘personal reasons’

Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, is stepping down from his role for 'personal reasons.' Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images via CNN Newsource

New York — UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty is stepping down immediately from his role for “personal reasons,” the company announced Tuesday.

He will be replaced by Stephen Hemsley, the health insurer’s board chairman and former CEO from 2006 to 2017. Witty, who ran the health care giant for four years, will remain in a limited role as a senior adviser to Hemsley.

“We are grateful for Andrew’s stewardship of UnitedHealth Group, especially during some of the most challenging times any company has ever faced,” Hemsley said in a statement, adding the company has “greatly valued his leadership and compassion as chief executive and as a director and wish him and his family the best.”

Witty helped steer the company following the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year. UnitedHealthcare is a unit of the parent company that Witty helmed.

Thompson’s fatal shooting outside a New York hotel brought to light significant public outrage about the health insurance industry, with Witty publicly acknowledging in a New York Times essay that the US health system “is not perfect” and that coverage decisions “are not well understood.”

Witty also defended UnitedHealthcare, the company’s health insurance arm, though he acknowledged that it shares some of the responsibility for the lack of understanding about decisions on care.

Also on Tuesday, UnitedHealth Group (UNH) suspended financial outlook for the year because costs of Medicare Advantage “remained higher than expected.” The company expects to return to growth in 2026.

Last month in a call with analysts following its most recent earnings report, Witty said its “overall performance that was frankly unusual and unacceptable.” Shares that day fell more than 20%, its biggest single day drop in nearly three decades.

The stock fell nearly 11% in premarket trading on Tuesday.

By Jordan Valinsky