Talk:UnitedHealth Group/Archives/2023/May

Redundant text

On behalf of my employer UHG, I'd like to flag an issue with the "Legal issues" section.

• Issue: Redundant / duplicate text about stock options and McGuire's resignation

The first paragraph of "Legal issues" says:

"Legal issues"

In 2006, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began investigating the conduct of UnitedHealth Group's management and directors, for backdating of stock options. Investigations were also begun by the Internal Revenue Service and prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York, who subpoenaed documents from the company. The investigations came to light after a series of probing stories in the Wall Street Journal in May 2006, discussing apparent backdating of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of stock options by UHC management. The backdating apparently occurred with the knowledge and approval of the directors, according to the Journal. Major shareholders have filed lawsuits accusing former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean and UHC's other directors of failing in their fiduciary duty. On October 15, 2006, CEO William W. McGuire was forced to resign, and relinquish hundreds of millions of dollars in stock options. On December 6, 2007, the SEC announced a settlement under which McGuire will repay $468 million, as a partial settlement of the backdating prosecution.

Further down, there's another section ("Investigations and lawsuits") with very similar text:

"Investigations and lawsuits"

In 2006, the SEC began investigating the conduct of UnitedHealth Group's management and directors, including Dr. McGuire, as did the Internal Revenue Service and prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York, who have subpoenaed documents from the company. The investigations came to light after a series of probing stories in The Wall Street Journal in March 2006, discussing the apparent backdating of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of stock options—in a process called options backdating—by UnitedHealth Group management. The backdating apparently occurred with the knowledge and approval of the directors, according to the Journal. Major shareholders have filed lawsuits accusing former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean and UnitedHealth Group's other directors of failing in their fiduciary duty.

Then, the next section ("Resignation of McGuire") says:

"Resignation of McGuire"

On October 15, 2006, it was announced that William W. McGuire would step down immediately as chairman and director of UnitedHealth Group, and step down as CEO on December 1, 2006, due to his involvement in the employee stock options scandal. Simultaneously, it was announced that he would be replaced as CEO by Stephen Hemsley, who has served as president and COO and is a member of the board of directors. McGuire's exit compensation from UnitedHealth, expected to be around $1.1 billion, would be the largest golden parachute in the history of corporate America.

• Request: I propose removing the first paragraph of the "Legal issues" section because there's additional text in the article about stock options and McGuire's resignation.

Unless there's a reason the text should appear twice in the same section, I am hoping User:voorts and other editors can address this issue. Thanks for reviewing! Barbara at UHG (talk) 17:37, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

Misplaced text about treatment

On behalf of UHG, I'd like to flag an issue with the "Policy Research ownership" section.

• Issue: Out of place and unrelated text
  • The end of the section says: Drug and alcohol treatment are generally covered under UnitedHealth Group and UnitedHealthcare plans, but the exact benefits and coverage offered depend on your policy. This text seems misplaced and irrelevant, having nothing to do with surrounding content.

References

• Request: I propose removing this sentence.

I am hoping User:voorts and other editors can address this issue. Thanks for reviewing! Barbara at UHG (talk) 17:44, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

List of acquisitions in history section

The history section of this article lists several acquisitions. WP:CORPDEPTH notes that "standard notices, brief announcements, and routine coverage" is trivial and not notable. Such routine coverage includes "expansions, acquisitions, mergers, sale, or closure of the business". However, "[a] news article discussing a prolonged controversy regarding a corporate merger" constitutes substantial coverage. I think the history section should be restructured and would like some feedback. Perhaps the UHG's mergers could be spun off into a separate article (see, e.g. List of mergers and acquisitions by Amazon). voorts (talk/contributions) 21:41, 27 April 2023 (UTC)

Note that this suggestion is basically a copy-paste of my reply to the above request for an edit from a paid editor; I felt that it belonged in a new topic to discuss the issue more thoroughly. voorts (talk/contributions) 22:43, 27 April 2023 (UTC)

I am looking at the history now. As of right now, I do not think a separate list would be warranted unless the acquisitions are notable. Meaning, keep the ones that are more than just routine announcements and have significant coverage and get rid of the rest. Still digging through references though so maybe a list would be warranted depending on what is available. --CNMall41 (talk) 06:07, 17 May 2023 (UTC)

Lobbying

I have only looked at the first section under controversies but am wondering if anyone can tell me why lobbying is a controversy here or why it is worded in a way to make a reader believe it was done for nefarious reasons? CNMall41 (talk) 06:10, 17 May 2023 (UTC)

@Voorts:, Per WP:NOCRIT, I started rewriting and moving content such as this (see both edit summaries). I do not want to cut away or move too much at the moment but since you expressed interest in the topic, you may want to take a look and do what you feel necessary. I will come back in a few days and look closer to see what else would be appropriate. --CNMall41 (talk) 03:48, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

Key people in infobox

On behalf of UHG, I'd like to request an update to the key people listed in the infobox.

Per the company's board of directors list, Larry Renfro should be removed from the infobox and Stephen J. Hemsley's role should be changed to simply "Chair".

Per the company's executive management team list, Andrew Witty is correctly identified as CEO, but I suggest adding Dirk McMahon as President and COO and John Rex as CFO.

If news sources are preferred, this Reuters article confirms Dirk McMahon's appointment in 2021 and this Reuters article confirms John Rex's appointment in 2016.

I am hoping User:voorts, User:CNMall41, or another editor can address this issue and update the infobox for me. Thanks! Barbara at UHG (talk) 19:18, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

I have been looking closer at this page and there are a lot of issues, some of them you are addressing through edit requests which is why I have not attempted to do too much. voorts has taken an interest in the page and if they want to do some chopping I will be glad to follow up on anything else needed. I normally do not like to jump the queue for COI editors and leave it for others, but I also see the backlog of requests as well. If no one gets around to your requests in the next few days I can come back and address them. --CNMall41 (talk) 20:34, 24 May 2023 (UTC)