The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday cited people familiar with the matter as saying that the probe has been ongoing since last year.

Stephen Hemsley would get stock options after three years, in some cases even if he doesn’t stay that long

Shares of UnitedHealth Group tumbled 16% in intraday trading Thursday, leading S&P 500 decliners, on a report that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the embattled health insurance provider for possible criminal Medicare fraud.

Stephen Hemsley ran UnitedHealth Group for more than a decade. It's a different company after four years with Andrew Witty in charge.

UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley, who replaced Andrew Witty, said he has the right strategy in place “for the era ahead.”

UnitedHealth Group surprises investors with what its CEO said was an "unusual and unacceptable" quarterly earnings miss, and lowers its outlook for the full year due to higher-than-expected medical costs, sparking a more than 20% selloff in shares that reverberated across the sector.