UnitedHealth shares slump — is the US healthcare industry in trouble?
The murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO has shone a spotlight on a struggling US healthcare industry with an inauspicious outlook


Shares in UnitedHealth slumped by 10% following the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO Brian Thompson on 4 December. Many people were “indifferent” to the assassination, with the group’s business practices in the spotlight instead. Some lambasted the group for “placing greater emphasis on their bottom line [than] providing quality coverage to its insurees”. Some investors worry that UnitedHealth “will see reduced customer loyalty, resulting in worse financial performance”.
It’s not only UnitedHealth, which saw its market capitalisation fall by $55 billion, that is facing pressure, says Forbes’ Derek Saul. There has been a wider sell-off in health insurance shares with a range of companies, such as Elevance Health, Cigna, Centene and Humana all losing ground. The fear seems to be that the anti-insurer sentiment expressed by the public may pressure the industry “to adjust how they handle coverage decisions”. If companies don’t, they know that they might eventually “face the wrath of the public” in the form of increased regulation.
Thompson appears to have become “a proxy for the healthcare industry writ large”, says Bloomberg’s Lisa Jarvis. The big question is whether this rage is channelled into something useful, at a time when the incoming Trump administration “seems keen to find cuts in ways that will directly harm Americans’ access to care, whether by making insurance less affordable or through deep cuts to Medicaid”.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
For now, most analysts still expect the new administration to focus on “traditional Republican priorities”, such as trying to shift more patients into the privately administered programme known as Medicare Advantage, says David Wainer in The Wall Street Journal.
However, even under Trump, Republicans could be willing to pursue greater scrutiny on certain practices by insurers such as the requirement for a doctor to secure approval before providing a service, which the Biden administration had already “begun cracking down on”. At the very least, insurance executives could be forced to “tread more carefully when it comes to denying medical claims” in future.
Overall, something is very wrong with the US healthcare system, says Robert Cyran for Breakingviews – “only 5% of respondents ranked the services provided by health insurers as excellent in a 2023 Gallup poll, with about a third classifying them as poor”.
What’s more, despite the US spending $12,000 per head on healthcare, 2.5 times the average for countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Americans still have “a lower life expectancy than most countries in the bloc”. Insurance premiums and out-of-pocket spending by individuals have also risen above inflation, with the US “spending more money and time on insurance, administration, patient paperwork, cost disputes and bickering over insurer approval for treatments”.
This article was first published in MoneyWeek's magazine. Enjoy exclusive early access to news, opinion and analysis from our team of financial experts with a MoneyWeek subscription.
Sign up for MoneyWeek's newsletters
Get the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis from our award-winning MoneyWeek team, to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.
He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.
Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.
As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.
Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri
-
Watch out for fake Steven Bartlett video – you could lose thousands
Scammers are trying to tap into the Trump tariffs chaos, but knowing what to look out for could save you thousands of pounds, says Kalpana Fitzpatrick
By Kalpana Fitzpatrick
-
Can Donald Trump fire Jay Powell – and what do his threats mean for investors?
Donald Trump has been vocal in his criticism of Jerome "Jay" Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve. What do his threats to fire him mean for markets and investors?
By Katie Williams
-
Trump’s tariffs: what is he thinking and how should the UK respond?
Every right-thinking person knows that free trade is a surer route to the wealth of nations than protectionism. So, what is Trump thinking?
By Stuart Watkins
-
Klarna postpones US IPO as Trump's tariffs rattle markets
Buy-now-pay-later lender Klarna has postponed its US initial public offering owing to the market turbulence. It is not alone, says Matthew Partridge
By Dr Matthew Partridge
-
Why stagflation now seems like America's "optimistic scenario"
Investors have gone into tariff shock, and stagflation could now be the optimistic scenario for the US economy.
By Alex Rankine
-
Will Trump force the Fed to lower interest rates?
Opinion Markets are ignoring the risk that Donald Trump forces the central bank into reckless interest rate cuts
By Cris Sholto Heaton
-
What is the Mar-a-Lago Accord and why is it getting attention from Wall Street?
On Wall Street, there is talk that Trump's tariffs aim to make the world’s leaders come crawling to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence
By Alex Rankine
-
Donald Trump's tariffs spark a global game of thrones
We don’t know what Donald Trump intends or will do next. That is in itself damaging.
By Emily Hohler
-
What does Big Tech's alliance with Donald Trump mean for the US?
The alliance between Big Tech and the new US president Trump is causing concern
By Emily Hohler
-
Is the US economy set for success?
Ignore the pessimists: US stocks will keep charging ahead, says Max King
By Max King