The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is conducting a criminal investigation into UnitedHealth Group to implement Medicare fraud.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) broke the story for the first time on Wednesday.
UnitedHealth said the Justice Department has not notified its notice of “reported criminal investigations” and the company insists on “the integrity of our Medicare Advantage program.”
The Justice Department's Health Care Vlad unit is overseeing a criminal investigation, which focuses on the company's Medicare Advantage business practices, and quotes people familiar with the matter as saying.
The newspaper said that while the exact nature of potential criminal charges against United Health is unclear, it has been an active investigation since at least last summer.
A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment to WSJ on the new crime investigation. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters News Agency.
UnitedHealth said in a regular document last week that it has "participated in or is currently involved in various government investigations, reviews and reviews" without revealing more details.
The new survey is a broader review of the Medicare Advantage program, which covers more government-only programs, such as private companies’ general health insurance plans for Americans aged 65 and over, such as dental and vision services.
In February, WSJ reported a civil fraud investigation into UnitedHealth's Medicare practice. The company then said it was not aware of any new investigations.
That same month, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa investigated UnitedHealth's Medicare billing practices and asked for detailed records of company compliance plans and other related documents.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit earlier this month accusing three of the largest health insurers in the U.S. for paying brokers hundreds of millions of dollars in kickbacks in exchange for a Medicare Advantage program that turned patients to insurers.
Of the 65 million people covered by Medicare, nearly half of the U.S. program, aged 65 and 65 or with disabilities, recruits the Medicare Advantage program run by private insurers.
Pay the insurance company’s set rate for each patient, but pay more if the patient has multiple health conditions. Standard health insurance coverage is managed by the government.
Health insurance companies have been under pressure for months. UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty resigned Tuesday, and the company also suspended its 2025 financial forecast as medical expenses rose, triggering a 18% stock decline to a four-year low.
Stephen Hemsley, who led the company for more than a decade until 2017, regained the in-rope after setbacks, including the December murder of its insurance department CEO Brian Thompson, who is the CEO of its insurance department, which jumped UnitedHealth to public awareness.
UnitedHealth Group shares fell 18% to a five-year low Thursday after the outbreak of the investigation.
“The stock is already in the kennel with investors, and only more uncertainty will pile up,” James Harlow, senior vice president of Novare Capital Management, which owns UnitedHealth stake, told the news agency.
If held in the loss, UnitedHealth will be the worst performing stock in the S&P 500 for the past two days.
The sell-off in the past month has removed nearly $30 billion of stocks from UN Health's market cap, which is more than half of its value since November's stock hit record highs.