UnitedHealth stock sinks 4.7% after company confirms DOJ investigation into Medicare billing practices
Following news reports from the Wall Street Journal about insurance billing techniques used by UnitedHealth and other large medical insurers, the Justice Department's healthcare fraud unit began making criminal and civil requests of the company, according to the filing.
"The Company has full confidence in its practices and is committed to working cooperatively with the Department throughout this process," UnitedHealth said in its disclosure. "The Company has a long record of responsible conduct and effective compliance."
The insurer also said it has "proactively launched its own initiative to conduct third party reviews of policies, practices, and associated processes and performance metrics for risk assessment coding, managed care practices, and pharmacy services."
The Wall Street Journal's reporting, first published in December 2024, documented several ways in which United and other major insurers have received billions of dollars in extra payments from the federal Medicare Advantage system, which allows approved private companies to provide health benefits in lieu of the federally managed Medicare system.
These include companies taking on extra, and sometimes incorrect, diagnoses to patient profiles when those rulings had not been made by the doctors actually treating the patients, allowing the insurers access to extra payouts from the Medicare program, among other tactics.
The health insurance giant has been facing a probe from the Justice Department into possible Medicare fraud since at least the summer of 2024, according to the Wall Street Journal's reporting.
UnitedHealth has been embroiled in a series of leadership controversies and financial setbacks over the last year, with its stock falling about 50% over that period.
In May 2024, the company and several senior executives — including founder and group chairman Stephen Helmsley, and then-UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson — were sued by a Hollywood-based pension fund for insider trading in a lawsuit alleging executives sold more than $100 million in stock after the company found out it was facing an antitrust probe by the Department of Justice but before the investigation was publicly disclosed.
Seven months later, in December, Thompson was shot and killed in Manhattan the morning of the company's annual investor meeting. Reactions across the country centered on anger toward UnitedHealthcare over its treatment of people on its insurance, including denial of claims.
When the company reported earnings a month later, the results showed revenue missed analyst estimates and the insurer's medical care ratio — which measures how much of collected premiums are spent by the insurer on medical care — spiked. The stock dropped around 5% after the release.
Three months later, the company's first quarter earnings report saw it slash its adjusted earnings per share guidance and sent shares down over 22%, its worst single-day performance since 1998. The next month, UnitedHealth's CEO Andrew Witty abruptly stepped down while the company pulled its annual forecast.
Helmsley, who had previously moved to a role as group chairman, was quickly appointed as CEO to replace Witty. He was granted a pay package that includes a $1 million salary and $60 million in stock options that will vest after three years.
That same month, the company suspended its annual forecast entirely, sending shares tumbling by roughly 16%. And in a final blow, UnitedHealth accidentally leaked a memo to STAT News in June that listed internal talking points on topics including the use of AI models to deny claims.
Jake Conley is a breaking news reporter covering US equities for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X at @byjakeconley or email him at jake.conley@yahooinc.com.
Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
11 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
The Tea app was intended to help women date safely. Then it got hacked
Tea, a provocative dating app designed to let women anonymously ask or warn each other about men they'd encountered, rocketed to the top spot on the U.S. Apple App Store this week. On Friday, the company behind the app confirmed it had been hacked: Thousands of images, including selfies, were leaked online. 'We have engaged third-party cybersecurity experts and are working around the clock to secure our systems,' San Francisco-based Tea Dating Advice Inc. said in a statement. The app and the breach highlight the fraught nature of seeking romance in the age of social media. Here's what to know: Tea founder Sean Cook, a software engineer who previously worked at Salesforce and Shutterfly, says on the app's website that he founded the company in 2022 after witnessing his own mother's 'terrifying'' experiences. Cook said they included unknowingly dating men with criminal records and being 'catfished'' — deceived by men using false identities. Tea markets itself as a safe way for women to anonymously vet men they might meet on dating apps such as Tinder or Bumble — ensuring that the men are who they say they are, not criminals and not already married or in a relationship. 'It's like people have their own little Yelp pages,'' said Aaron Minc, whose Cleveland firm, Minc Law, specializes in cases involving online defamation and harassment. In an Apple Store review, one woman wrote that she used a Tea search to investigate a man she'd begun talking to and discovered 'over 20 red flags, including serious allegations like assault and recording women without their consent.'' She said she cut off communication. 'I can't imagine how things could've gone had I not known,' she wrote. A surge in social media attention over the past week pushed Tea to the No. 1 spot at the U.S. Apple Store as of July 24, according to Sensor Tower, a research firm. In the seven days from July 17-23, Tea downloads shot up 525% compared to the week before. Tea said in an Instagram post that it had reached 4 million users. A female columnist for The Times of London newspaper, who signed into the app, on Thursday called Tea a 'man-shaming site'' and complained that 'this is simply vigilante justice, entirely reliant on the scruples of anonymous women. With Tea on the scene, what man would ever dare date a woman again?'' It's unclear what legal recourse an aggrieved man might have if he feels he's been defamed or had his privacy violated on Tea or a similar social media platform. In May, a federal judge in Illinois threw out an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit by a man who'd been criticized by women in the Facebook chat group 'Are We Dating the Same Guy,'' Bloomberg Law reported. In its statement, Tea reported that about 72,000 images were leaked online, including 13,000 images of selfies or photo identification that users submitted during account verification. Another 59,000 images that were publicly viewable in the app from posts, comments and direct messages were also accessed, according to the company's statement. No email addresses or phone numbers were exposed, the company said, and the breach only affects users who signed up before February 2024. 'At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that additional user data was affected. Protecting tea users' privacy and data is our highest priority,' Tea said. It said users did not need to change their passwords or delete their accounts. 'All data has been secured.'' Wiseman writes for the Associated Press.
Los Angeles Times
11 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Samsung to make Tesla AI chips in multiyear Texas deal
Samsung Electronics Co. will produce AI semiconductors for Tesla Inc. in a new $16.5 billion pact that marks a win for its underperforming foundry division. South Korea's largest company announced on Monday that it secured the 22.8 trillion won chipmaking agreement, which will run through the end of 2033. The plan is for an upcoming plant in Taylor, Texas, to produce Tesla's next-generation AI6 chip, Tesla chief Elon Musk said on X, confirming a Bloomberg News report. Samsung's Seoul-traded shares rose 6.8% to their highest since September, while its suppliers like Soulbrain Co. jumped 16%. A Samsung spokesperson declined to comment, citing confidentiality terms in its contract. 'The strategic importance of this is hard to overstate,' Musk, 54, wrote on X. He described the value of the deal announced by Samsung as 'just the bare minimum. Actual output is likely to be several times higher.' The Tesla chief executive officer and X owner will walk the chip fabrication line himself and has been authorized by Samsung to assist in optimizing production, he said. The AI6 component will form the foundation of Tesla's driving hardware suite for cars in coming years. Samsung produces the current AI4 system, according to Musk. The contract win, the first after Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee was cleared of all outstanding legal charges, comes as Samsung has been steadily losing ground in chip manufacturing. The company, which makes its own memory chips and also fabricates semiconductors on behalf of clients, has had difficulty bringing in enough orders to fully utilize its foundry capacity. It has postponed completion of construction and operational ramp-up of its new Texas fab to 2026. 'Their foundry business has been loss-making and struggling with under-utilization, so this will help a lot,' said Vey-Sern Ling, managing director at Union Bancaire Privee in Singapore. 'Tesla's business may also help them to attract other customers.' That's in contrast to leading chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which still cannot meet all demand. TSMC held a dominant share of 67.6% of the global foundry market in the first quarter this year, according to Taipei-based TrendForce. Samsung's share slipped to 7.7% from 8.1% in the previous quarter. Samsung and TSMC are both on pace to deliver the next generation of semiconductor advancement — moving to 2-nanometer fabrication — and the new deal is seen as a signal of confidence for the company's upcoming fabrication technology. While the contract may represent a small share of foundry revenue annually, it holds greater value as a catalyst for technological refinement and innovation over the long run, according to Ryu Young-ho, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities Co. It also helps burnish Samsung's reputation as the strongest TSMC alternative at a time when Intel Corp. is struggling to win over investors skeptical about its long-term strategy and road map. At Tesla, Musk has said the company's future will depend on delivering the long-elusive goal of true self-driving technology. Last week, after a disappointing earnings report, he said the automaker will face 'a few rough quarters' until it can deliver autonomous vehicles at scale — which he predicted for the second half of 2026 or by the end of the year. Yet there is still skepticism about that target. Musk's X posts following the Samsung deal imply that Tesla will adopt two different next-generation chips in short order that are crucial to its automated-driving systems. He wrote that the carmaker will go from currently sourcing AI4 chips from Samsung, to using AI5 chips from TSMC that have just been designed, to then using AI6 chips from Samsung. The rapid-fire changes risk opening Tesla up to more blowback from car owners who were told back in 2016 that all the vehicles the company was making from then on had the hardware necessary to eventually drive autonomously. In early 2023, Musk said on an earnings call that Tesla was going to stop offering retrofits to customers whose cars were equipped with older-generation chips, citing the cost and difficulty of offering upgrades. Tesla has made some progress in recent months toward competing with Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo by starting to offer a driverless taxi service in Austin. But the carmaker has yet to offer rides without any safety staff in its vehicles, and early users posted videos of the robotaxis appearing to violate traffic laws. The suite of features Tesla markets as Full Self-Driving still requires customers to supervise the system at all times. Lee and Kang write for Bloomberg.
Hamilton Spectator
37 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Mullen Automotive Inc. Changes Name to Bollinger Innovations, Inc. Effective Today
BREA, Calif., July 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — via IBN – Bollinger Innovations, Inc. (Nasdaq: BINI) ('Bollinger Innovations' or the 'Company'), an electric vehicle ('EV') manufacturer, today announces that the Company's previously announced name change from Mullen Automotive Inc. to Bollinger Innovations, Inc. is effective July 28, 2025. The Company's Nasdaq stock symbol change to BINI is effective as of the market open on the same date. The CUSIP number for the Company's common stock is not affected by the name or stock symbol change. The Company's name and stock symbol change has no affect on the Company's legal structure or business operations. Stockholders are not required to take any actions in connection with these changes. 'Our transition to Bollinger Innovation is complete and we now have commercial Class 1, 3 and 4 under one unified brand,' said David Michery, CEO and chairman of Bollinger Innovations, Inc. About Bollinger Innovations, Inc. Bollinger Innovations, Inc. (NASDAQ: BINI), effective July 28, 2025, and formerly, Mullen Automotive Inc. (Nasdaq: MULN), is a Southern California-based automotive company building the next generation of commercial electric vehicles ('EVs') with U.S. based vehicle manufacturing located in Tunica, Mississippi. As of January 2024, both the ONE, a Class 1 EV cargo van, and THREE, a Class 3 EV cab chassis truck, are California Air Resource Board ('CARB') and EPA certified and available for sale in the U.S. The Company's commercial dealer network consists of seven dealers, which includes Papé Kenworth, Pritchard EV, National Auto Fleet Group, Ziegler Truck Group, Range Truck Group, Eco Auto, and Randy Marion Auto Group, providing sales and service coverage in key West Coast, Midwest, Pacific Northwest, New England, and Mid-Atlantic markets. In September 2022, Bollinger Motors, of Oak Park, Michigan, became a majority-owned EV truck company of Bollinger Innovations. Bollinger Motors has passed numerous milestones including its B4, Class 4 electric truck production launch on Sept. 16, 2024, and the development of a world-class dealer network with over 50 locations across the United States for sales and service support. To learn more about the Company, visit . Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed forward-looking statements. Words such as 'continue,' 'will,' 'may,' 'could,' 'should,' 'expect,' 'expected,' 'plans,' 'intend,' 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'estimate,' 'predict,' 'potential' and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, many of which are generally outside the control of Bollinger Innovations and are difficult to predict. Examples of such risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to Bollinger Innovations plan and timeframe related to changing its Company name and stock symbol. Additional examples of such risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: (i) Bollinger Innovations ability (or inability) to obtain additional financing in sufficient amounts or on acceptable terms when needed; (ii) Bollinger Innovations ability to maintain existing, and secure additional, contracts with manufacturers, parts and other service providers relating to its business; (iii) Bollinger Innovations ability to successfully expand in existing markets and enter new markets; (iv) Bollinger Innovations ability to successfully manage and integrate any acquisitions of businesses, solutions or technologies; (v) unanticipated operating costs, transaction costs and actual or contingent liabilities; (vi) the ability to attract and retain qualified employees and key personnel; (vii) adverse effects of increased competition on Bollinger Innovations business; (viii) changes in government licensing and regulation that may adversely affect Bollinger Innovations business; (ix) the risk that changes in consumer behavior could adversely affect Bollinger Innovations business; (x) Bollinger Innovations ability to protect its intellectual property; and (xi) local, industry and general business and economic conditions. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements can be found in the most recent annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K filed by Bollinger Innovations with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bollinger Innovations anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause its plans, intentions and expectations to change. Bollinger Innovations assumes no obligation, and it specifically disclaims any intention or obligation, to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by law. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and should not be relied upon as representing Bollinger Innovations plans and expectations as of any subsequent date. Contact: Bollinger Innovations, Inc. +1 (714) 613-1900 Corporate Communications IBN Austin, Texas 512.354.7000 Office Editor@
