Insurance stocks fall after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s murder

Major insurance stocks have fallen more than 6% from their close last Tuesday, the day before CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed. united health groupInsurance department in midtown Manhattan.

That includes UnitedHealth. CVS Health and Signaoperates three of the largest private health insurance companies in the country. Mr. Thompson, 50, led UnitedHealthcare, the largest private payer of health insurance benefits in the United States.

Luigi Mangione, 26, is accused of fatally shooting Thompson early last Wednesday outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan as the CEO was on his way to UnitedHealth Group’s investor day. . Investigators say Mangione was a critic of the medical industry, a view echoed by some Americans online in the days after Thompson’s death.

The stock performance of both companies appears to be in response to “new rhetoric” criticizing insurers’ business models, saying that insurers “expect to sacrifice some patients at different times of the year, and as a result… “It’s incredibly profitable,” said Jared Holtz of Mizuho Health Insurance. the care equity strategist said in an interview.

He noted that this is not a new theme in the industry, as many Americans blame the industry for rising health care costs.

“I think the reaction from investors is, ‘If there’s going to be negative attention again to the industry, would I want to own this category of stocks?'” Holtz said.

UnitedHealthcare, like other large insurance companies, has similarly faced lawsuits and criticism from regulators, lawmakers and patients for denying claims to maximize profits. Americans have criticized insurance companies over, among other things, denials of coverage for services and treatments, unexpected charges, high copays, and the dizzying complexity of the coverage process.

Although backlash against the industry has grown since the shooting, Holtz said this negative stock reaction is likely to be “fairly short-lived.” He added that he does not expect insurance companies to make any material changes to their policies as a result of the killing.

“Do you think companies are going to proactively make any changes in the wake of this? No,” Holtz said.

New York prosecutors charged Mangione with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a loaded firearm and other charges Monday night, hours after his arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The New York charges come after Mr. Mangione made his first court appearance in Pennsylvania on separate gun and forgery charges.

Mangione, a private school valedictorian and Ivy League graduate who belongs to a powerful Maryland family, was held without bail after his arraignment Monday night.

At a court hearing Tuesday afternoon, Mangione refused to waive his right to contest extradition to New York City. The judge denied Mr. Mangione’s bail and sent him back to a Pennsylvania prison for the time being.

Law enforcement officials told NBC News that at the time of his arrest, Mangione was carrying a handwritten page criticizing the U.S. health care industry and naming United Healthcare.

“I apologize for the conflict and trauma, but it needed to be done. Frankly, the parasites were expecting it,” Mangione wrote, according to a report on NBC.

Authorities are still investigating the motive for the shooting, and New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told NBC’s “TODAY” on Tuesday that “that will become clearer as the investigation continues to unfold over the coming weeks and months.” he said. But she noted that Mangione’s memo contained “anti-corporate sentiment, a number of issues regarding the medical industry.”