Katherine Clark

This story is republished from STAT, the health and medicine news site that’s a partner to the Globe. Sign up for STAT’s free Morning Rounds newsletter here.

UnitedHealth Group’s top executives, including CEO Stephen Hemsley, and company board members recently flooded the campaign coffers of Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the No. 2 Democrat in the House who just beat two opponents in a closely watched primary race.

More than 40 officials and board members across UnitedHealth cumulatively donated more than $100,000 to Clark’s campaign during the 2025-2026 election cycle, a STAT analysis of federal records shows. Leading the way was Hemsley and his wife, Barbara, who donated $7,000 each to Clark’s political fund. Hemsley is worth almost $1 billion between his previously exercised stock and remaining stock ownership in UnitedHealth.

The only other federal politician who received even half that amount from UnitedHealth employees this election period was Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who is not up for reelection this November.

UnitedHealth’s focus on Clark, a moderate with a sizable amount of power in the House, coincides with the upcoming midterm elections. A handful of incumbent Democrats have lost their primary races to progressives who support Medicare for All, making the midterms a referendum on whether the party will shift more aggressively toward overhauling the health care system.

If Democrats retake the House and Senate, they would hold power over the nation’s health care agenda. Clark, in particular, would be an influential ally for UnitedHealth since she is the designated lawmaker to whip Democrats to vote the same way. She has veered away from supporting Medicare for All, which UnitedHealth and other health care companies have vociferously opposed.

Other top company officials who gave money to Clark this cycle included UnitedHealth CFO Wayne DeVeydt ($5,000), UnitedHealthcare CEO Tim Noel ($3,500), UnitedHealthcare Government Programs CEO Bobby Hunter ($3,500), Optum Rx CEO Jon Mahrt ($3,500), Optum CEO Patrick Conway ($2,100), and UnitedHealth Chief Physician of Value-Based Care Wyatt Decker ($2,000).

Five UnitedHealth board members — Frederick William McNabb III ($2,000), Kristen Gil ($2,000), Tim Flynn ($2,000), Paul Garcia ($2,000), and Valerie Montgomery Rice ($1,000) — also donated to Clark.

UnitedHealth declined to comment. Clark’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

This month, Clark handily defeated her Democratic challengers, Jonathan Paz and Tarik Samman, both of whom support Medicare for All. Clark co-sponsored Medicare for All legislation in 2021 but hasn’t signed on to any version of that bill since then.

After a turbulent past two years, which included the killing of its top health insurance executive and higher medical costs across its insurer and care provider businesses, UnitedHealth has reignited its earnings under Hemsley. However, the company continues to face criticism over its prior authorization practices and Medicare Advantage coding, and is under audit by the Internal Revenue Service.