NEW YORK – The masked gunman who stalked and killed the top of one in all the biggest U.S. medical health insurance corporations on a Manhattan sidewalk used ammunition with the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose,” a police official said Thursday.

The official was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the continued investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, died Wednesday in an ambush as he walked to the corporate's annual investor conference at a Hilton hotel in Midtown, just blocks from tourist attractions similar to Radio City Music Hall and the Museum of Modern Type removed.

The words on the ammunition could have been a reference to strategies utilized by insurance firms to avoid paying damages.

Investigators recovered several 9mm shell casings outside the hotel and a cellphone from the alley through which the shooter fled, NYPD Chief Detective Joseph Kenny said earlier.

The murder and the shooter's movements within the minutes before and after were captured by a few of the quite a few surveillance cameras in that a part of town.

Investigators consider, based on surveillance video and evidence collected on the scene, that the shooter had not less than some firearms training and experience with firearms and that the weapon was equipped with a silencer, the official said.

Investigators are also looking into whether the suspect had prepositioned a bicycle as a part of an escape plan, the official said. The suspect fled on a bicycle and was last seen riding into Central Park.

Authorities conducted DNA and fingerprint evaluation on items found nearby, including a water bottle they consider the suspect could have discarded, the official said.

Surveillance camera video showed the gunman approach Thompson from behind, point his pistol and fire several shots. He barely paused to clear a temporary weapons jam because the dying health manager fell to the bottom.

Other surveillance cameras recorded the early stages of the shooter's escape. He was seen fleeing the block across a pedestrian mall after which escaping on his bicycle. Police used drones, helicopters and dogs in an intensive search, however the killer's whereabouts remained unknown.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that while investigators haven’t yet determined a motive, the shooting was not a random act of violence.

“Many people walked past the suspect, but he appeared to be waiting for his intended target,” Tisch said at a news conference Wednesday.

“It appears from the video that he is knowledgeable about firearms as he was able to troubleshoot the malfunctions fairly quickly,” Kenny said.

Police released several surveillance images of the person, who was wearing a hooded jacket and a mask that covered most of his face and wouldn’t have drawn attention on a chilly winter day. Some of the photos were taken at a Starbucks coffee shop shortly before the shooting.

“Brian was a valued colleague and friend to all who worked with him,” the Minnetonka, Minn.-based insurer’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group Inc., said in an announcement. “We are working closely with the NYPD and ask for your patience and understanding during this difficult time.”

Thompson's wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News that he told her “there were some people who had threatened him.” She didn’t provide details but suggested the threats could have been related to insurance coverage issues.

Eric Werner, the police chief within the Minneapolis suburb where Thompson lived, said his department had not received any reports of threats against the manager.

Investigators also searched Thompson's hotel room, interviewed his colleagues at UnitedHealthcare and checked his social media, Kenny said.

Police initially said the shooter rode a motorcycle from town's bike-sharing program CitiBike into Central Park. However, a spokesman for this system operator Lyft said law enforcement officials informed the corporate Wednesday afternoon that the bike was not from the CitiBike fleet.

Healthcare giant UnitedHealth Group held its annual meeting with investors to update Wall Street on the corporate's direction and expectations for the approaching 12 months. The company ended the conference early after Thompson's death.

Thompson, a father of two sons, had been with the corporate since 2004 and served as CEO for greater than three years.

UnitedHealthcare is the biggest provider of Medicare Advantage plans within the United States, administering medical health insurance coverage for employers and state and federally funded Medicaid programs.

Governor of Minnesota. Tim Waltz posted on social platform X that the state “directs our prayers to Brian’s family and the UnitedHealthcare team.”

“This is terrible news and a terrible loss for Minnesota’s economy and health care,” the Democrat wrote.

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Balsamo reported from Washington.

Originally published: December 5, 2024 at 7:10 am PST

By Renuka Rayasam, KFF Health News

For the past yr and a half, Tandra Cooper Harris and her husband Marcus, each of whom have diabetes, have struggled to fill prescriptions for the medications they need to regulate their blood sugar.

Without Ozempic or an analogous drug, Cooper Harris suffers from fainting spells, is just too drained to maintain her grandchildren and struggles to earn more money braiding hair. Marcus Harris, who works as a cook at Waffle House, needs Trulicity to maintain his legs and feet from swelling and bruising.

The couple's doctor has tried to prescribe them similar medications that mimic a hormone that suppresses appetite and regulates blood sugar by increasing insulin production. But these, too, are sometimes out of stock. In other cases, their insurance through the Affordable Care Act burdens the couple with a lengthy approval process or costs they’ll't afford.

“It's like I have to jump through hoops to survive,” said Cooper Harris, 46, a resident of Covington, Georgia, east of Atlanta.

Due to provide shortages and insurance hurdles for this powerful class of medicine, generally known as GLP-1 agonists, many diabetics and obese people should not have access to the medicines they should stay healthy.

One of the causes of the issue is the very high prices set by drug manufacturers. About 54% of adults who had taken a GLP-1 drug, including those with insurance, said the price was “difficult to afford,” in line with KFF survey results published this month. But it’s the patients with the bottom disposable income who’re hit hardest. These people have few resources and may hardly go to the doctor or buy healthy food.

In the US, Novo Nordisk charges about $1,000 for a month's supply of Ozempic, and Eli Lilly charges an analogous amount for Mounjaro. Prices for a month's supply of varied GLP-1 drugs between 936 and 1,349 US dollars before insurance coverage, in line with the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker. Medicare spending on three popular diabetes and weight-loss drugs – Ozempic, Rybelsus and Mounjaro – reached $5.7 billion in 2022, up from $57 million in 2018, in line with Research by KFF.

The “outrageously high“The high price tag has the potential to bankrupt Medicare, Medicaid and our entire health care system,” Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, wrote in a letter to Novo Nordisk in April.

The high prices also mean that not everyone who needs the drugs can get them. “They're already disadvantaged in some ways and that is just another excuse,” said Wedad Rahman, an endocrinologist at Piedmont Healthcare in Conyers, Georgia. Many of Rahman's patients, including Cooper Harris, are underserved, have high-deductible health insurance plans or rely on government assistance programs such as Medicaid or Medicare.

Many drug manufacturers offer programs to help patients start and stay on medications at little or no cost. But these programs have not been reliable for drugs like Ozempic and Trulicity due to supply shortages. And many insurers' requirements that patients prior approval or the first attempt with less expensive drugs leads to delays in treatment.

By the time Rahman's patients come to see her, their diabetes has been untreated for years and they are suffering from serious complications such as foot wounds or blindness. “And that's the top of the road,” Rahman says. “I even have to search out something else that’s more cost-effective and never pretty much as good for them.”

GLP-1 agonists – the drug category that includes Ozempic, Trulicity and Mounjaro – were initially approved to treat diabetes. In the past three years, the Food and Drug Administration has approved rebranded versions of Mounjaro and Ozempic for weight loss, causing demand to skyrocket. And demand is only growing as more and more of the drugs' benefits become apparent.

In March, the FDA approved the weight loss drug Wegovy, a version of Ozempic, for Treating heart problemswhich is likely to increase demand and spending. Up to 30 million Americans, or 9% of the U.S. population, are expected to take a GLP-1 agonist by 2030, according to the financial services company JP Morgan estimates.

More and more patients are trying to get a prescription for GLP-1 agonists, but pharmaceutical manufacturers are struggling to produce enough doses.

Eli Lilly urges people to avoid its cosmetic weight-loss drug Mounjaro to ensure adequate supplies for people with health problems. But the drugs' popularity continues to rise despite side effects such as nausea and constipation, thanks to their effectiveness and celebrity endorsements. In March, Oprah Winfrey hosted an hour-long special on the drugs' ability to help people lose weight.

It may seem like everyone in the world is taking this class of drugs, says Jody Dushay, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an endocrinologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “But it's not as many individuals as you'd think,” she says. “There just aren't any.”

Even when the drugs are in stock, insurers crack down, leaving patients and health care providers to navigate a tangle of constantly changing insurance rules. State Medicaid plans vary of their range of weight reduction medications. Medicare doesn’t cover the prices of medication after they are prescribed for obesity. And Commercial insurers restrict access due to the cost of the medication.

Health care providers piece together treatment plans based on what's available and what patients can afford. Cooper Harris' insurance, for example, covers Trulicity but not Ozempic, which she said she prefers because it has fewer side effects. When her pharmacy ran out of Trulicity, she had to rely more on insulin instead of switching to Ozempic, Rahman said.

On one day in March, Brandi Addison, an endocrinologist in Corpus Christi, Texas, had to adjust prescriptions for all 18 patients she was treating because of issues with drug availability and cost, she said. One patient, covered by a high-deductible teachers' pension plan, couldn't afford a GLP-1 agonist, Addison said.

“Until she meets that deductible, it's just not a drug she will be able to use,” Addison said. Instead, she prescribed her patient insulin, which is priced at a fraction of the cost of Ozempic but doesn't offer the same benefits.

“The patients on a fixed income will be our more vulnerable patients,” Addison said.

KFF Health News CBS News

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