Health insurance companies remove leadership from websites after targeted killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO

Health insurance companies have started making large changes for security in light of the killing of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, including taking images of their executives off of their websites.

Thompson was murdered on Wednesday in what has been reported to be a planned and targeted attack on the executive. The suspect fired several rounds at Thompson outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan and fled.



He had been the CEO of the insurance company since 2021 and had a compensation of around $10 million annually, per the Daily Mail. On Wednesday after the shooting, his company took down his as well as other executives' photos from the insurance company website. CVS Health, which owns the health insurance company Aetna, did the same on Thursday.

The outlet reported that security consultant Robert D'Amico, who has done work with the FBI, said that the company listened to advisers regarding security and added, “These companies are hearing what experts like me have been saying about how easy it is to identify and then find their executives.”

The president of Enhanced Protection Services at Allied Universal, Glen Kucera commented, “I think there's going to be a lot of executives that are going to say, ‘Hey, you know, this could happen to me and we should really consider our security protocol going forward.’”

D’Amico pointed out how many people attacked insurance company CEOs on social media making threats in the aftermath of Thompson’s death and said, “I think the healthcare companies are going to see that and realize that there's more hate out there for them and their executives.”

Prior to the investor conference that Thompson was attending, he had gotten threats, his wife told reporters. In addition, his schedule was publicly known. The suspect, as a result, was able to stay in wait for Thompson prior to the shooting. The suspect had reportedly taken a bus up to New York from Atlanta leading up the shooting and used a possible modern version of a WW2-style pistol.