STAT stories you might have missed in 2024

This year, STAT published a cornucopia of stories on health and medicine, bringing our signature analysis, insight, and investigative skills to readers. Here’s a sampling of some of the important coverage you may have missed:

What the killing of a health insurance executive revealed

As a rule, we don’t cover criminal justice. But the targeted killing of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, unleashed a concerted backlash, as we’ve tried to explain. Our long-running coverage of the nation’s largest health insurer might shed some light on the subject: Last year, STAT’s Bob Herman and Casey Ross investigated UnitedHealth Group’s use of an unregulated algorithm to deny claims. This year, STAT published a multi-part series (reported by Herman, Ross, Tara Bannow, and Lizzy Lawrence) on how UnitedHealth became Health Care’s Colossus, squeezing profits out of patients, pressuring physicians, and pursuing questionable diagnoses.

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