UnitedHealth Group Incorporated NYSE: UNH is a managed health care company. It is the parent of UnitedHealthcare, the largest health insurer in the country. It was created in 1977, as UnitedHealthCare Corporation (it renamed itself in 1998), but traces its origin to a firm it acquired in 1977, Charter Med Incorporated, which was founded in 1974. In 1979, it introduced the first network-based health plan for seniors. In 1984, it became a publicly traded company.

In 2005, William W. McGuire, M.D., its CEO, earned $124 million. His compensation in the five years 2001-2005 was $341 million. He has been the CEO since 1989, when annual revenues were just over $400 million.

In 1995, the company acquired The MetraHealth Companies Inc. for $1.65 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.

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.

Trivia

UNH is one of Mad Money host Jim Cramer's favorite stocks (and one he owns for his charitable trust); he frequently refers to himself as "Doctor UNH".