UnitedHealth shareholder proposes independent board chair

(Reuters) -A UnitedHealth shareholder proposed on Friday that the healthcare group should adopt a policy to require an independent board chair, a role now held by CEO Stephen Hemsley. The Accountability Board, a nonprofit advocacy group and UnitedHealth's shareholder, said the current structure would decrease the board's "checks and balances by consolidating power." Hemsley took the CEO job after his predecessor Andrew Witty resigned abruptly in May. Hemsley served as the board chair since 2017. "Now, a single person holds both roles — which is as far as it gets from the independent oversight shareholders so critically need," the proposal says. Matt Prescott, president of the Accountability Board, declined to disclose its stake in UnitedHealth but said it has at least $25,000 in the company for the past year. This comes as the largest U.S. health insurer is trying to regain the confidence of shareholders. Once hailed as a reliable earnings performer, UnitedHealth missed Wall Street's earnings target for two straight quarters this year, and was forced to pull back its 2025 outlook in May due to soaring medical costs and shortfalls in its government-backed plans. In the last two years, UnitedHealth has also dealt with a cyberattack at its technology unit that served as a major backbone in the U.S. healthcare system, the murder of its insurance unit chief in December, and a federal investigation into its government-backed health plans. (Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)

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