DEVELOPING: Head of America’s biggest health insurer shot dead in ‘targeted attack’ outside investor meeting.

The head of America’s biggest health insurer has been killed in an early morning shooting outside an investor meeting in New York.

UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson, 50, was shot outside the Hilton Hotel, where the company’s investor conference was being held.

Police said Mr Thompson had been rushed to hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

United Healthcare is the health insurance subsidiary of United Health Group, one of America’s biggest healthcare companies.

According to the New York Post, police said the event appeared to be a targeted attack.

Mr Thompson was shot at around 6:45am. The suspect, described as wearing a cream-coloured jacket, a black face mask and a grey backpack, fled on a bicycle.

“No arrests have been made in connection with the attack,” the Telegraph reports.