Exhibit 5.1

October 29, 2021

Board of Directors

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated

9900 Bren Road East

Minnetonka, Minnesota 55343

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I have acted as Senior Associate General Counsel to UnitedHealth Group Incorporated, a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), in connection with the preparation of its registration statement on Form S-8 (the “Registration Statement”), filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Act”), relating to the proposed offering of up to 15,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share (the “Common Stock”), of the Company (the “Shares”), all of which shares are issuable pursuant to the Employee Stock Purchase Plan (as in effect on the date hereof, the “Plan”). This opinion letter is furnished to you at your request to enable you to fulfill the requirements of Item 601(b)(5) of Regulation S‑K, 17 C.F.R. § 229.601(b)(5), in connection with the Registration Statement.

For purposes of this opinion letter, I, or other attorneys in the legal department of the Company under my direction, have examined copies of such agreements, instruments and documents as I have deemed an appropriate basis on which to render the opinions hereinafter expressed. In my examination of the aforesaid documents, I have assumed the genuineness of all signatures, the legal capacity of all natural persons, the accuracy and completeness of all documents submitted to me, the authenticity of all original documents, and the conformity to authentic original documents of all documents submitted to me as copies (including pdfs). As to all matters of fact, I have relied on the representations and statements of fact made in the documents so reviewed, and I have not independently established the facts so relied on. This opinion letter is given, and all statements herein are made, in the context of the foregoing.

This opinion letter is based as to matters of law solely on the Delaware General Corporation Law and the Minnesota Business Corporation Act. I express no opinion herein as to any other statutes, rules or regulations.

Based upon, subject to and limited by the foregoing, I am of the opinion that following (i) effectiveness of the Registration Statement, (ii) issuance of the Shares pursuant to the terms of the Plan, and (iii) receipt by the Company of the consideration for the Shares specified in the applicable resolutions of the Board of Directors and in the Plan, the Shares that constitute original issuances by the Company will be validly issued, fully paid, and nonassessable.

This opinion letter has been prepared for use in connection with the Registration Statement. I assume no obligation to advise of any changes in the foregoing subsequent to the effective date of the Registration Statement.

I hereby consent to the filing of this opinion letter as Exhibit 5.1 to the Registration Statement. In giving this consent, I do not thereby admit that I am an “expert” within the meaning of the Act.

Very truly yours,

/s/ Faraz A. Choudhry

Faraz A. Choudhry,

Senior Associate General Counsel