UnitedHealth shares fall due to widening Justice Department investigation

Investing.com — UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) shares fell 1.4 percent late Tuesday on news that the U.S. Justice Department's criminal investigation into the health insurance giant expanded beyond previously known Medicare fraud investigations.

According to Bloomberg, citing sources close to the matter, the department's criminal division is now looking into prescription management services at Optum Rx, UnitedHealth's pharmacy benefit manager, and how the company pays its own doctors. This expanded review adds to existing investigations into the company's Medicare Advantage billing practices that have been ongoing since at least last summer.

The Justice Department has not charged UnitedHealth or its executives with any wrongdoing. The presence of an investigation does not mean that charges will be brought definitively. However, the expanded scope of the investigation adds another layer of complexity for the nation's largest health insurer.

In a statement to Bloomberg, UnitedHealth said it acknowledged responding to both civil and criminal Justice Department investigations, citing a regulatory filing in July, and that it had “full confidence in its practices.”

The healthcare conglomerate also faces a civil fraud investigation into Medicare billing practices separate from the criminal investigation and potential civil antitrust issues. In addition, the US Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against UnitedHealth and two rival pharmacy benefits managers accusing them of driving up insulin prices. The companies dismissed these claims as “baseless.”

UnitedHealth is the largest vendor of Medicare Advantage plans, private health insurance options for seniors that have been a major growth factor for the health insurance industry in recent years.

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