Several insurance companies pulled down executive biography webpages after Brian Thompson killing
Health insurance giants appear taking steps to protect their executives as UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer remains at large
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Days after the CEO of UnitedHealthcare was killed in Manhattan, major health insurance companies are removing information about their top executives from their websites.
Police are still searching for the gunman who fatally shot Brian Thompson near the New York Hilton Midtown early Wednesday morning in what appeared to be a targeted killing.
In the aftermath of the deadly shooting, UnitedHealthcare took down its “leadership” page, WebArchive shows, and the page once containing biographies about its executives now bounces to the insurance company’s homepage with no information about those running the company.
Several health insurance giants have since followed suit, shielding information about their top executives, an online sleuth noticed Thursday.
Blue Cross Blue Shield’s “Leadership” page is now redirected to its “About Us” page.
CareSource’s “Executive Leadership” page redirects to the company’s homepage, while individual biography pages for its top executives lead to “Not Found” messages.
Medica’s “Leadership” page now redirects to the company’s homepage, and clicking on news releases for company executives result leads to an inaccessible link reading: “We can’t find the page you’re looking for.”
“The safety of Medica employees is our top priority and we have increased security both for all of our employees,” a Medica spokesperson told The Independent without providing all details.
Medica’s office buildings have been “temporarily closed out of an abundance of caution,” even though “we have received no specific threats related to our campuses,” the spokesperson added.
When asked about its decision to take down the webpages, a spokesperson for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association told The Independent that it does not publicly comment on its employee security measures.
The Independent has also requested comment from representatives for Care Source and Medica.
As of Friday morning, the leadership pages of health insurance giants, including Cigna, Kaiser Permanente, Humana, and Aetna, were still accessible.
Authorities believe Thompson was killed in a “brazen, targeted attack,” NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Thursday press conference.
The shooter appeared to be “lying in wait” for the 50-year-old CEO, she said, noting that “many people passed the suspect, but he appeared to wait for his intended target.”
Police are looking into a smattering of clues to find the suspect, whose identity and motive still remain a mystery as of Friday morning. Among those clues were bullet casings inscribed with the words “deny,” “depose,” and “defend.”
Authorities released photos of the suspected killer on Thursday and are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the suspect.