NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) May 24, 2006--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it is not currently taking any rating action on UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH; A/Stable/A-1) or its subsidiaries in light of questions about the firm's compensation practices. Standard&Poor's recently conducted a peer review of UNH and other large health companies. The review indicated that financial metrics and competitive qualities of UNH's business continue to support the current strong ratings. Nevertheless, unanswered questions about the firm's compensation practices as they relate to stock-option grants and attendant concerns over corporate governance have lead to heightened media, investor, and regulatory scrutiny. The company has indicated that these issues could lead to accounting restatements. These issues have already
