The health insurer Centene has moved its investor’s day event online amid the health care industry’s rising security concerns over the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Preliminary details from the investigation into Thompson’s killing suggest retribution against insurance practices may have been a motive behind the attack. The casings of the bullets found at the scene were inscribed with words including “deny” and “delay,” a possible reference to the phrases insurers use to deny claims. Online, social media reactions to Thompson’s death point to animosity against health insurers that has reached a critical point, and companies have been swift in taking action to protect their executives.
Centene did not specifically cite security as the reason behind its decision to make its Dec. 12 event virtual instead of in-person, but did say that it was doing so “in the wake of the tragic loss” of Thompson.
The company has not yet responded to a request for comment.
In the days since Thompson’s death, other health insurance companies have also removed some of the information about executives that was previously available on their websites, based on comparisons made by STAT with archived versions of their websites.
- United Healthcare removed the “Our Leaders” page from the website, and the link now directs to a “page not found” message.
- CVS Health removed pictures of its executive team from their website. In an email to STAT, the company confirmed removing the images but didn’t add further details.
- Humana’s website no longer links to its leadership team from its About section, and its board of directors link now leads to a contact form. Its “Management” link leads to a page reading “you are not authorized to access this page.”
- CareSource removed its leadership’s profile pages. The URLs now lead to a 404 error.
STAT has contacted these organizations and will update the story with any additional comments.