Article: United Healthcare Cuts Jobs, Phoenix affected.

UnitedHealth Ends Options Suits, Cuts 4,000 Jobs (Update2)

By Avram Goldstein
July 2 (Bloomberg) -- UnitedHealth Group Inc. agreed to the biggest settlement of lawsuits involving backdated stock options and said the company would trim 4,000 jobs after its membership fell and expenses for providing medical coverage rose.
UnitedHealth, the largest U.S. health insurer, said today it would pay $912 million to end two class-action cases over grants of stock options to executives. The Minnetonka, Minnesota, company last year restated earnings dating to 1994 because of a backdating probe that cost former Chief Executive Officer William McGuire his job in 2006.
The company today cut its annual earnings forecast for the second time. Health insurers have reported higher expenses and lower profits, driving down the six-member Standard & Poor's 500 Managed Health Care Index by 47 percent this year. The worst may now be over, analysts said after UnitedHealth's announcement.

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