NEW YORK, NY, THURSDAY, April 4, 2025 – Shareholders of UnitedHealth Group ($UNH) today announced their withdrawal of a proposal submitted for the 2025 proxy after facing a series of challenges from the company at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The proposal filed by the Congregation des Soeurs des Saints Noms de Jesus et de Marie requested that UNH’s Board of Directors prepare a report on the public health-related costs and macroeconomic risks associated with the company’s practices that limit or delay access to healthcare. Proponents argued that short-sighted company policies and practices aimed at delaying and denying coverage to policyholders create longer-term economic burdens that adversely affect both the company and investors’ total portfolios by increasing consumer debt, deteriorating public health, and reducing workforce productivity, which strains government resources.
In recent years, UNH has attracted the scrutiny of lawmakers and regulators who have sharply criticized the company for its market dominance and conflicts, given its control of both providers and insurers, excessive profiteering within its Medicare Advantage business, and allegedly using an error-prone algorithm to systematically deny care to older Americans. It is also facing a federal antitrust investigation and a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block its proposed acquisition of the home health provider Amedisys.
The proposal was set to go to a vote of company shareholders at UNH’s spring annual meeting when the company submitted its “no-action” request to the SEC, which would allow it to omit the proposal from its proxy. As the proponents were in dialogue with the company, the SEC unexpectedly issued new guidance in a mid-season Staff Legal Bulletin (SLB 14M), creating a loophole that permitted the company to file a second and additional no-action request. To avoid jeopardizing the chance to re-file the proposal next year, the proponents made the difficult decision to withdraw the proposal this year.
Said lead filer Timnit Ghermay, “Applying new guidance to previously submitted proposals in this manner unfairly penalizes investors who have followed the SEC’s guidance in good faith. The 14M Bulletin and UNH’s challenge disenfranchise investors of their rights to put forward questions of material risk to their fellow shareholders. Our proposal requested much-needed circumspection by the board and management to consider the systemic risks created by denial and delaying care for policyholders. As long-term shareholders invested in the success of our company and reliant on a healthy economy, we fully intend to keep this issue in front of the company in our upcoming dialogues.”
CONTACT:
Susana McDermott
Director of Communications
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)
201-417-9060 (mobile)
smcdermott@iccr.org
About the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) is a broad coalition of more than 300 institutional investors collectively representing over $4 trillion in invested capital. ICCR members, a cross-section of faith-based investors, asset managers, pension funds, foundations, and other long-term institutional investors, have over 50 years of experience engaging with companies on environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) issues that are critical to long-term value creation. ICCR members engage hundreds of corporations annually in an effort to foster greater corporate accountability. Visit our website www.iccr.org and follow us on LinkedIn, Bsky and X.
The post United Healthcare Blocks Shareholder Vote on a Proposal Seeking Disclosures Around Practices That Limit or Delay Access to Healthcare first appeared on Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.