UnitedHealth Group executives have long argued that buying rival health care companies was the key to earning long-term profits, and investors who endorsed that strategy were rewarded for years.


Since UnitedHealth announced disappointing earnings in April, though, Wall Street has erased roughly half of the company’s stock value, and its “buy everything” business model has come under scrutiny.

A new report tallies UnitedHealth’s vast holdings and chronicles how the company both spawned new enterprises and went on a prolonged buying spree to grow. In all, UnitedHealth has a whopping 2,694 subsidiaries and affiliates.

The report gives a deal-by-deal accounting of how UnitedHealth ballooned, but it also implicitly asks a key question: Has it become too big to manage?

“United is shaping our health care system, and few people know the company’s scope,” said Wendell Potter, president of the Center for Health & Democracy, which published the Sunlight Report on UnitedHealth Group with financial support from Arnold Ventures.