(Reuters) -UnitedHealth Group spent practically $1.7 million on safety for its high executives in 2024, the healthcare conglomerate disclosed on Monday, months after the deadly capturing of senior government Brian Thompson exterior a Manhattan lodge in December.
The corporate additionally paid $207,931 on behalf of sure members of the family of the executives to supply them with private and residential safety companies, it stated.
The safety spending disclosures, absent from UnitedHealth’s earlier annual filings, underscore how the December capturing is prompting corporations to reassess the chance of focused violence in opposition to high administration.
U.S. drugmakers Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly additionally elevated spending on safety for his or her high executives in 2024, regulatory filings confirmed final month.
“We consider that these safety companies are acceptable and mandatory given the dangers related to government officer positions on the firm,” UnitedHealth stated within the submitting.
Brian Thompson, the previous CEO of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance coverage unit UnitedHealthcare, was shot lifeless on December 4 exterior a Midtown Manhattan lodge the place the corporate was holding an investor convention.
The submitting additionally confirmed UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty’s complete compensation for 2024 was $26.3 million, in contrast with $23.5 million a 12 months in the past.
The conglomerate spent $150,951 in direction of Witty’s safety, whereas $926,989 was paid for Heather Cianfrocco, the CEO of the corporate’s well being companies unit Optum.
Following Thompson’s homicide, well being insurers eliminated photos of their executives from company web sites. In January, organizers at a significant San Francisco healthcare assembly elevated safety for attendees inside and outdoors the venue.
In previous years, healthcare and pharmaceutical corporations have sometimes coated using personal jets and supplied restricted security-related compensation, in accordance with earlier filings with the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Modifying by Devika Syamnath)
Source link