# UnitedHealth Group *Minnesota-based health insurance and health care services company; subject of two at-issue entries in the record.* UnitedHealth Group is a health insurance and health care services company that sells insurance under the UnitedHealthcare name and runs its care, pharmacy and data businesses as Optum.[^1] By Wikipedia's account it is the largest U.S. health insurer, with more than 50 million people covered, and it ranks fourth on the 2026 Fortune Global 500.[^1] The project's validated dossier places the company's headquarters in Minnetonka, in [[Hennepin County, Minnesota]].[^2][^3] The cached Wikipedia article instead describes the company as based in Eden Prairie, [[Minnesota]].[^1] On July 24, 2025 the company published a newsroom statement saying it "has now begun complying with formal criminal and civil requests from the Department" of Justice. The dossier records that the requests concern the company's Medicare participation.[^2] The same statement asserts that "Independent CMS audits confirm that the Company's practices are among the most accurate in the industry."[^2] As of the dossier's September 2, 2026 compilation, no resolution, settlement, indictment or declination had been located.[^2] The company appears in two entries of the at-issue record, both concerning Hennepin County's federal receipts.[^4] A SmartAsset survey reported by The Center Square ranked Hennepin first of 3,132 U.S. counties in federal dollars received from January 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026, at more than $286 billion.[^3] The study's author attributed that ranking to the headquarters in the county of the nation's largest [[Medicare Advantage]] insurer, because federal data assign the spending to the insurer's address.[^3] ## Who Charter Med Incorporated, the company's forerunner, was founded in Minnesota in late 1974 by Richard Taylor Burke. Its first work was claims processing for physicians of the Hennepin County Medical Society.[^1] Chief executive William W. McGuire resigned on October 15, 2006, during the federal stock-option inquiry described below.[^1] Major shareholders sued the company's directors, among them former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean. The suits allege a failure of fiduciary duty.[^1] ## What The company has about 2,700 subsidiaries and affiliates.[^1] Optum, formed in 2011, is organized as OptumHealth (primary and secondary care), OptumInsight (data analytics, technology and operations services) and OptumRX (pharmacy services).[^1] UnitedHealthcare has three main divisions: - Employer and Individual. - Medicare and Retirement, serving people 65 and older. - Community and State, serving state programs for the economically disadvantaged and the uninsured.[^1] The company's July 2025 statement describes its practices as among the most accurate in the industry, according to independent CMS audits.[^2] Set beside that self-description, the documented record includes the following: - The same statement confirms that the company is complying with criminal and civil requests from the Department of Justice.[^2] - Wikipedia's summary lists investigations, lawsuits and fines over stock option backdating (SEC enforcement), Medicare over-billing, unfair claims practices, mental health treatment denials and anticompetitive behavior.[^1] ## When - **1974**: Charter Med founded.[^1] - **1977**: UnitedHealthcare Corporation formed to acquire Charter Med and build a network-based health plan for seniors.[^1] - **1984**: The company became publicly traded.[^1] - **1998**: Reorganized as a holding company over UnitedHealthcare, Ovations, Uniprise, Specialized Care Services and Ingenix, and renamed UnitedHealth Group.[^1] - **2006**: The SEC opened an investigation of stock-option backdating by management and directors. The Internal Revenue Service and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York also opened inquiries, and the prosecutors subpoenaed company documents.[^1] - **December 6, 2007**: Under an SEC settlement, McGuire was to repay $468 million, including a $7 million civil penalty. He was barred for ten years from serving as an officer or director of a public company.[^1] - **2008**: The SEC settled actions against the company and its former general counsel.[^1] - **July 24, 2025**: The company stated it had begun complying with formal criminal and civil requests from the Department of Justice.[^2] ## Where The dossier gives Minnetonka, in Hennepin County, as the headquarters.[^2] Wikipedia gives Eden Prairie, Minnesota.[^1] The company operates internationally.[^1] ## How Under the Community and State division, state programs pay the company a monthly premium for each enrolled member.[^1] The study's author, as reported by The Center Square, explains Hennepin County's first-place federal ranking this way: Medicare Advantage spending is recorded at the insurer's address, not where beneficiaries live.[^3] ## How much **Company finances** - Fiscal 2022: earnings of $20.64 billion on revenue of $324.16 billion.[^1] - 2023: revenue of $371.6 billion and operating income of $32.4 billion.[^1] - 2024: revenue of $400.3 billion, up 8 percent. Earnings from operations were $32.3 billion and operating cash flow was $24.2 billion.[^1] - Year-end 2025: market capitalization above $300 billion.[^1] **Federal dollars recorded in Hennepin County** - More than $286 billion over the survey period, of which $282.8 billion was direct assistance.[^3] - Per resident, $222,702, which ranked eleventh nationally.[^3] **Political spending** - 2009: people affiliated with the company gave $4.77 million to candidates and groups, according to OpenSecrets.[^1] - 2010: the company's PAC, United for Health, spent a further $1 million on lobbying.[^1] - 2011–2021: company spending ranged from $4.11 million to $4.75 million.[^1] The company's Lewin Group unit has been cited by both parties: by Democratic Senator Ron Wyden in support of his Healthy Americans Act, and by former Republican House Whip Eric Cantor against government-funded insurance proposals.[^1] **Foundation pledge** The UnitedHealth Foundation pledged $100 million over ten years for scholarships and workforce programs. By the foundation's description, the program is aimed at increasing ethnic and racial diversity in health care and supporting 10,000 physicians.[^1] ## In the at-issue record Both entries are anchored to the March 2025 White House presidential action on protecting federal payments against fraud, waste and abuse.[^4] - **[[At issue 035 - Hennepin County is first in the United States]]** sets the county's first-place national ranking in federal receipts beside the location there of the largest Medicare Advantage insurer's headquarters. It rests on a single news source, The Center Square.[^3][^4] - **[[At issue 036 - On July 24, 2025 the insurer at that]]** sets out the company's own July 24, 2025 confirmation of criminal and civil requests from the Department of Justice. It rests on two sources: STAT News and the company's newsroom.[^2][^4] The record shows the company's confirmation of the requests. It does not establish any charge, finding or outcome.[^2] ## In the Minnesota record ### Where Hennepin County had 1,284,784 residents in the July 1, 2025 Census estimate, up from 1,281,565 at the April 1, 2020 census.[^5] Minnesota's July 1, 2025 estimate was 5,830,405.[^6] On those figures, the county holds 22.0 percent of the state's population. That ratio is the project's arithmetic and is not published by the Census Bureau.[^5][^6] ### What The Bureau of Economic Analysis records Hennepin County's 2024 all-industry GDP at $193,617,316 thousand, or about $193.6 billion.[^7] Minnesota's 2024 GDP was $507,687.8 million.[^8] On those figures, the county produced 38.1 percent of state output, a ratio derived by the project.[^7][^8] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *UnitedHealth Group* (revision 1381055553, retrieved 2026-10-27) — company profile, history, structure, finances, lobbying, the 2006–2008 SEC matter, foundations, and the Eden Prairie location. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UnitedHealth_Group [^2]: UnitedHealth Group, *UHG Responds to DOJ Investigation* (July 24, 2025) — "The Company has now begun complying with formal criminal and civil requests from the Department"; the CMS-audits assertion. Per the project dossier (Sept. 2, 2026): headquarters in Minnetonka, Hennepin County; no resolution located. https://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/newsroom/2025/2025-07-24-uhg-responds-to-doj-investigation.html [^3]: The Center Square (Elyse Apel), *Minnesota's Hennepin County tops U.S. in federal spending* (Aug. 29, 2026) — SmartAsset survey of 3,132 counties, Jan. 1, 2025–June 30, 2026: more than $286 billion, $282.8 billion direct assistance, $222,702 per resident (eleventh); the study author's headquarters explanation. https://www.thecentersquare.com/minnesota/article_96460bd8-0fdb-4652-9c1a-0aa5edaccc78.html [^4]: The White House, *Protecting America's Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse* (presidential action, March 2025) — anchor of at-issue entries 035 and 036 (Freeman Apex Dossier §V.a). https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/protecting-americas-bank-account-against-fraud-waste-and-abuse/ [^5]: U.S. Census Bureau, *QuickFacts: Hennepin County, Minnesota* — 1,281,565 (April 1, 2020); 1,284,784 (July 1, 2025 estimate). https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hennepincountyminnesota/PST045224 [^6]: U.S. Census Bureau, *QuickFacts: Minnesota* — 5,706,494 (2020); 5,830,405 (July 1, 2025 estimate). https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/MN/PST045224 [^7]: Bureau of Economic Analysis via FRED, *All Industry Total GDP, Hennepin County, MN* (2024) — $193,617,316 thousand. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDPALL27053 [^8]: Bureau of Economic Analysis via FRED, *Minnesota all-industry GDP* (2024) — $507,687.8 million. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MNNGSP