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FAQ: Everything you need to know about Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare

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FAQ: Everything you need to know about Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare


UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, was fatally shot Wednesday morning in Midtown Manhattan as a company shareholder meeting was getting underway. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about Thompson and UnitedHealthcare.

Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group (UNH) is a diversified traded health care company with more than 400,000 employees. It owns UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest health insurer. UNH most recently ranked in the top five on the Fortune 500 list of American businesses, just behind Apple, and publicly trades on the New York Stock Exchange. The company is Minnesota’s 10th-largest employer, with approximately 19,000 workers in the state.

A division of UNH, UnitedHealthcare (UHC) is the largest provider of health insurance products in the United States. It provides private health insurance for more than 52 million people, including 29 million with private individual or workplace health plans, and more than 20 million people with government-subsidized Medicare and Medicaid plans.

Thompson was appointed chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare in April 2021 after initially joining UNH in 2004 and serving in a variety of corporate leadership roles. He ran UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare business for several years. The University of Iowa graduate had previously worked as a CPA with PricewaterhouseCoopers, according to his company biography. He lived in Maple Grove. Thompson was fatally shot Dec. 4 outside a hotel in New York City before a scheduled annual conference of investors.

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Optum is another well-known division of UNH, providing direct health care and pharmacy services along with data analytics of health care trends. Roughly 90,000 physicians are employed by or affiliated with Optum, the largest such tally in the United States. Roughly 40,000 advanced practice caregivers also are employed by Optum or affiliated with the division.

The company’s insurance division has faced scrutiny in the press and from elected officials for the way it reviews and denies requests or claims for medical care. UnitedHealthcare has been investigated for its use of prior authorization to determine whether services are medically necessary for senior citizens covered by Medicare Advantage plans. The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations announced in October that UnitedHealthcare, alongside the two other largest Medicare Advantage insurers, Humana and CVS, boosted profits by denying seniors stays in post-acute care facilities while they recovered from injuries and illnesses. UnitedHealthcare’s prior authorization denial rate for post-acute care ballooned from 10.9% in 2020 to 22.7% in 2022, according to the subcommittee’s report. The denials, the subcommittee wrote in its report, “can force seniors to make difficult choices about their health and finances in the vulnerable days after exiting a hospital.”

A cyberattack earlier this year on another UNH subsidiary, Change Healthcare, affected 100 million patients, making it one of the largest data breaches in U.S. history. Optum acquired Change for $13 billion in 2022. The division processed about 15 billion health care transactions per year before the attack. Some health care providers reported months-long delays in payments of claims in the aftermath of the cyberattack.

Demonstrations outside UNH headquarters in Minnetonka have become larger and generated more attention. Eleven people reportedly were arrested on July 15 when the People’s Action Institute staged a protest regarding the company’s refusals to authorize or pay for care. A former Republican state representative, Jenn Coffey, led the protest after exhausting financial resources to pay for cancer care and fighting with UnitedHealthcare over its denials and coverage limitations.



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Shorthanded Clippers can’t keep pace with Anthony Edwards and Minnesota

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Shorthanded Clippers can’t keep pace with Anthony Edwards and Minnesota


Anthony Edwards scored 31 points, Donte DiVincenzo added 18 and the surging Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Clippers 94-88 on Thursday night.

Jaden McDaniels and Ayo Dosunmu each scored 12 points and Rudy Gobert had 13 rebounds to help the Timberwolves improve to 5-1 since Feb. 9 and 3-1 since the All-Star break.

Edwards, returning to the site of the All-Star Game, where he was the MVP, was 12 for 24 from the floor and sealed the victory with a step-back three-pointer over two defenders for a 92-88 lead with 42.9 seconds left.

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Minnesota improved to 2-0 on a three-game trip.

Derrick Jones Jr. scored 18 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 14 for the Clippers, who struggled from the outset with a season-low 38 points in the first half. Kris Dunn had 11 points for the Clippers (27-31), who have lost three consecutive games for the first time since December.

The Clippers struggled on offense without star Kawhi Leonard, out because of ankle soreness. The Clippers shot 40.5% from the floor, including 18.2% (four for 22) in the second quarter. Minnesota shot 43.4% in the game.

The Timberwolves (37-23) scored just 15 points in the second quarter and still topped the Clippers, who had 11. Minnesota led 44-38 at halftime behind 12 points from DiVincenzo and 11 from Edwards.

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The Clippers led by six in the third quarter and were up 68-63 heading into the fourth. Edwards’ drive and reverse layup put the Timberwolves up for good at 76-74 with 7:40 remaining.

The Clippers pulled within one three times in the last 2½ minutes, but Edwards answered each time. He scored the Timberwolves’ last nine points.

Up next for Clippers: vs. New Orleans on Sunday night.

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Church congregant filed lawsuit against alleged Minnesota church protesters

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Church congregant filed lawsuit against alleged Minnesota church protesters


A St. Paul church member has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that a group of individuals, including journalist Don Lemon and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, unlawfully disrupted service last month as part of a coordinated political demonstration.

The complaint, filed by Ann Doucette in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, alleges that a Jan. 18 demonstration at Cities Church interfered with her ability to worship and caused her to suffer damages, including emotional distress and trauma.

In addition to the former CNN anchor and Armstrong, the complaint names journalist Georgia Fort and activists Will Kelly, Jerome Richardson, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy. It also names St. Paul school board member Chauntyll Allen.

Doucette and seven of the defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Doucette filed the complaint without the representation of an attorney. In an emailed statement to NBC News, Crews denied the lawsuit’s allegations “with empathy and compassion.”

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The lawsuit accuses the group of civil conspiracy, aiding and abetting, intentional infliction of emotional distress, interference with religious exercise and trespassing.

“As a result of Defendants’ actions, the worship service was disrupted, congregants experienced fear and distress, and Plaintiff’s ability to freely exercise her religion in a private place of worship was unlawfully interfered with,” the lawsuit states.

All eight defendants are also facing federal charges for conspiracy against the rights of religious freedom at a place of worship and for interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom. Lemon has pleaded not guilty to all charges, saying outside the court, “I wanted to say this isn’t just about me, this is about all journalists, especially in the United States.”

Fort, Crews and Lundy were released on bond and entered not guilty pleas, according to The Associated Press.

Don Lemon reporting from an anti-ICE demonstration at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minn.@TheDonLemonShow via YouTube

This is the latest legal action tied to protests in the Twin Cities, where tensions remain over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

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According to the lawsuit, the demonstrators engaged in “coordinated conduct” by organizing meetings ahead of the “Operation Pullup” protest and promoting it on social media.

The lawsuit alleges that on the morning of Jan. 18, a coordinated group of individuals entered Cities Church, halting the worship service, and chanting “‘ICE Out!’ and ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!’” while obstructing aisles. Protesters could allegedly be seen “confronting the pastor and congregants in a menacing manner,” the lawsuit says, noting that their chanting and “aggressive gestures” caused “severe emotional distress, fear, anxiety, and trauma” and caused children “terror.”

Demonstrators gathered at the church because they said its pastor, David Easterwood, was the acting director of an ICE field office in the city, the lawsuit says.

Lemon was arrested in January in California and accused of violating federal civil rights law after covering the protest on Jan. 18. He was released on a personal recognizance bond before a federal grand jury in Minnesota returned the indictment against Lemon and eight co-defendants, all of whom are also named in Doucette’s lawsuit.

Nekima Levy Armstrong, Cities Church protest arraignment, St. Paul, Minn., February 2026
Nekima Levy Armstrong in St. Paul, Minn., on Feb. 13.Carlos Gonzalez / Star Tribune via Getty Images

In the lawsuit, Doucette alleges that Lemon specifically livestreamed the protest, “noting congregants’ fear and distress, and appeared to take satisfaction in the disruption.”

Levy Armstrong, a Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney and activist, was also arrested for her participation in the St. Paul protest. Her arrest drew national attention after the White House shared on social media doctored photos where she appeared to be crying.

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Man arrested, charged with threatening to kill a state senator

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Man arrested, charged with threatening to kill a state senator



A Hubbard County man was arrested and charged after threatening to kill a Minnesota state senator on Facebook. 

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Court documents filed on Wednesday state the Minnesota State Patrol were investigating a threat posted by John Tobias saying that he would “kill every one of you treasonous [expletive] immediately” if he did not get money back that he claims he lost during the 2020 COVID shutdown. 

Court documents go on to say that Tobias then called the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office asking for something to be done about “Minnesota Governor Tim Walz ‘unconstitutionally’ shutting down the state due to COVID-19. 

The Minnesota State Patrol contacted Hubbard County deputies regarding Tobias. Court documents state Hubbard County investigators were already familiar with Tobais after speaking with him regarding similar threats he made in Jan. 

The charging documents state that investigators searched Tobias’ residence on Tuesday and found an arsenal of guns and 45 boxes of ammunition. 

Tobias was taken into custody. During an interview with law enforcement, Tobias admitted to making the threat on Facebook. He also told investigators that “he did not have any intention of killing anyone, but admitted he was trying to get people’s attention,” according to court records. 

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In late 2025, Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger of the Minnesota State Patrol, who oversees Capitol security, told a panel of lawmakers that threats to lawmakers had doubled between 2024 and 2025. 

Tobias made his first court appearance Wednesday morning and is expected back in court early next month.  



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