Unitedhealthcare offers purchases, could pursue dismissals

UnitedHealthcare offers certain employees in their benefit operations unit the option to accept purchases if they renounce before March 3, after a tumultuous year For the insurance giant, CNBC has learned.

Those who do not accept the offer will continue in their current role or in a comparable position, two people familiar with the matter told CNBC. If the company does not meet a resignation fee through purchases, it will leave employees, people said, citing an internal resources site.

The company refused to share how many employees received purchase offers under the so -called voluntary renunciation separation program. The benefit operations unit supervises multiple subdivisions that help manage customer service, claims, registration, customer insurance benefits and more, said a person.

United Unitedhealth GroupShe is the largest private health insurer in the United United United Group. December 2023But he does not reveal how many people work in their segment of benefits or insurance businesses in general.

UnitedHealth Group is the largest conglomerate of medical care in the US Medicare Advantage and deals with the consequences of the expensive cyber attack against its subsidiary change Healthcare. He has also faced a renewed anger for the high costs of medical care in the United States, following The murder of the CEO of his insurance unit, Brian Thompson, in December.

Elderly employees for purchases include American workers or part -time workers assigned to four internal segments under benefit operations, including corporate, consumer operations, central services and suppliers services, according to the Memo.

“This voluntary option is part of our continuous efforts to ensure that our team is better positioned to meet the evolutionary needs of the people and customers to whom we are honest to serve,” said a spokesman from UnitedHealth to CNBC in a statement . “We continue to grow our workforce with more than 3,200 positions currently available on the careers of UnitedHealth Group.”

The company expects the date of completion of employees to be just May 1, according to an internal memorandum sent on Monday and seen by CNBC. The memorandum said that some employees who accept purchases may need to work beyond that date, but the company does not expect to demand that they work beyond November 13.

Its compensation packages will depend on the number of years that have passed in the company and its salary degree, and will begin on its completion date, said the memorandum. The benefits provided to employees included in any possible future dismissal may not be “as favorable” as those offered to workers under the purchase program, according to the Memo.

The workers who received the purchase offers are in a state of shock, especially after United Group reported their highest annual income in 2024. The company said in its January profit release that generated $ 400.3 billion in income in 2024, 8% more year after year.

Unitedhealth executives said the “digital adoption” helped the company reduce costs during the call of the company’s fourth quarter in January. The Andrew Witty CEO described it as a “modernization agenda” that includes, but is not limited to artificial intelligence.

He added that Unitedhealth is “just scratching the surface of the opportunity.”

The workers were informed about purchases during a meeting that lasted about 10 minutes on Monday, people said. They will have the opportunity to ask questions in the information sessions in the next few days.

The purchases follow the Thompson shooting, which unleashed a torrent of anger and accumulated resentment towards the insurance and renewed industry called to the reform.

That occurred only months after the change of health, which processes medical claims, was beaten by a cyber attack last February that compromised the surrounding health information. 190 million people. UnitedHealth Group has paid more than $ 3 billion to suppliers affected by cyber attack.

UnitedHealth Group too dismissed workers In its Optum health services division last year.

The company’s shares increased almost 1% on Wednesday.