History

In January 1977 UnitedHealthOne was incorporated. Through acquisitions and expansion of its management services HealthCare grew steadily as an owner and manager of HMOs, and by 1984 the company was running 11 HMOs in ten states. United HealthCare went public in 1984 and began trading as an over-the-counter stock. Soon after United Healthcare went public it launched an ambitious national expansion program, which included starting new HMOs and acquiring multi-state HMO companies. In June 1985 United HealthCare made its first major acquisition since going public, acquiring Share Development Corporation, an Indiana-based multi-state HMO through a stock swap valued at nearly $60 million. At the end of 1956 United Healthcare and its subsidiaries were active in 22 states, covering 822,400 members through company owned or managed health plans. In November 1986 United HealthCare paid $83 million to acquire the Colorado-based Peak Health Care Inc., a four-state HMO network with 104,000 enrollees.

In April 1987 Kenneth Simmons, the former president of Peak Health Care, was named CEO of United HealthCare, succeeding Robert Ditmore, who remained president. Seven months later Simmons was named to replace Richard Burke as chief executive.

In 1987 unsteady market conditions, excessive administrative costs and price competition battles with traditional insurance companies led United HealthCare to loose $15.8 million for the year while its stock value fell by the end of the following year. This led United Healthcare to abandon several health plans, including HMO startups in six large cities and another well-established HMO operation in Phoenix. In the beginning of 1988 United began to restructure for better days.

The restructuring program eventually returned United Healthcare to profitability, and by the end of 1989 it was one of the largest publicly traded HMOs in the United States. For the year, United HealthCare earned $13.6 million on revenues of $412 million.

In 1989 Dr. William McGuire, a former Peak Health Care president, was promoted to United HealthCare president.

In March 1990 United HealthCare held a secondary public offering of three million shares, adding about $100 million to the $60 million the company had already. This money was now set for acquisitions and operations. In 1990 with a lot of cash on hand, United Healthcare acquired PrimeCare Health Plan Inc., a Milwaukee-based HMO and the second largest HMO in Wisconsin with 103,000 members.

In late 1990 United launched new programs aimed at going after organic business form other HMO’s. The services included: United Resource Network, a program designed to manage the delivery of high cost, low volume procedures such as organ transplants; Healthmarc, a program a United Healthcare program offering health care utilization review and case management services for workers' compensation claims; and Employee Performance Design, a group of employee assistance programs offering financial, personal, and other advice to employees.

By the close of 1990 United HealthCare had about 1.5 million members enrolled in its health insurance plans.

In April 1991 United acquired the Institute of Human Resources (IHR), a Maryland-based employee assistance company operating of one of the largest networks of employee counselors and providing phone counseling services to workers with drug abuse, mental health, or alcohol dependency problems.

In July 1991 United Healthcare purchased the Wauwatosa, a Wisconsin-based Samaritan Health Plan Insurance Corporation, one of the first hospital-sponsored HMOs in the country. In 1991 United healthcare also acquired Ocean State Physicians Health Plan, a Rhode Island-based HMO previously managed by United HealthCare.

In January 1992 United HealthCare paid $84 million to acquire Physicians Health Plan of Ohio, a Columbus-based HMO with 154,000 members. Then, in July, United HealthCare acquired the assets of HealthPro, Inc., a Massachusetts-based benefits management company. Then one month later United HealthCare agreed to acquire a 50 percent stake in Physicians Health Plan of North Carolina. By end of 1992 United HealthCare was considered an industry leader.

In Early 1993 United HealthCare paid $100 million to acquire Western Ohio Health Care Corporation, a 185,000-member health plan and the largest HMO in Dayton, Ohio. This gave United Healthcare 20 percent of the Ohio state's HMO enrollment.

In May 1993 United agreed to acquire HMO America Inc. the second largest HMO in Chicago, owning and operating a 300,000-member plan in an exchange of stock valued at more than $370 million.
Through the rest of the 1990’s United Healthcare continued to expand its purchasing and development of innovative products.

In 1995, the company acquired The MetraHealth Companies Inc. for $1.75 billion. MetraHealth was a privately held company formed by combining the group health care operations of The Travelers Insurance Company and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company also known as MetLife. United Healthcare was now named Readers ChoiceTM winner 2007 for "Best Managed care organization.

In July 2004, United Healthcare acquired Oxford Health Plans and all of United Healthcare's New York-based small group contracts (2-49 lives) are now Oxford Health Plans products. In December 2005, the company received final regulatory approval for its $9.2 billion purchase of PacifiCare Health Systems. It agreed to divest parts of PacifiCare's commercial health insurance business in Tucson, Arizona and Boulder, Colorado to satisfy antitrust regulator concerns, and also agreed to end its network access agreement with Blue Shield of California.

In March 2007, United Healthcare signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sierra Health Services Inc. for $2.6 billion.

History last updated 12/2007

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