Health insurance industry CEO salary survey, stay calm for this

[FourScore]

Health insurance industry CEO salary survey, stay calm for this
by nyceve
Tue May 26, 2009 at 10:27:23 AM PDT

While the American people find themselves priced out of health insurance and healthcare, the CEOs of America's largest for-profit health insurers are making record salaries.

And perks . . .like private corporate aircraft, country club memberships, security services (wonder why they need this?) and a lifestyle most Americans can only dream about.

It's really long overdue that the American people hit the streets to demand guaranteed and affordable healthcare. It's also long overdue that we drive a stake through the heart of the fully parasitic Murder by Spreadsheet for-profit insurance industry.

Before you peruse the CEO salary survey, keep in mind the for-profit health industry exists for only one purpose, to generate profits for shareholders. In order to do so, this industry collects premiums and then it delays and denies medical care--think you're insured, think again. The situation is so bad that doctors are in revolt. They are sick and tired of fighting the insurers for every treatment, every medication and every test.

Doctor pushes back against insurer scrutiny

Monterey physician Bradley Carpentier found himself spending so much time fighting with health insurers to get approvals for the treatments he prescribed for his patients that he decided to wage his own lobbying effort.

Carpentier formed a new political action committee - Stop Practicing Medicine - to target the long-standing practice of insurers hiring doctors to review physician decisions, even though the insurer-hired doctors had never seen or talked to the patient whose care they were scrutinizing...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/25/BADR17PSC9.DTL&hw=health+care&sn=013&sc=281

From the Washington Post:

Karen Ignagni, CEO America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)

Ignagni's total compensation, according to AHIP's most recent filing from 2007, was $1.58 million, which includes $700,000 in base salary, $370,000 in deferred compensation and a bonus. Ignagni won't say how many hours a week she works. The number's so high it's embarrassing, she said...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/24/AR2009052400551_2.html

All the following data for the 2008 salary survey is provided by Fiercehealthcare http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/special-reports/total-package-health-plan-ceo-compensations-2008

Meet the parasites:

Ron Williams - Aetna

Total Compensation: $24,300,112

Details: Williams earned $24,300,112 in total compensation for 2008, with more than half of that ($13,537,365) coming from option awards. He also received an additional $6,456,630 in stock awards to go along with his base salary of $1,091,764.

Personal use of a corporate aircraft and vehicle, as well as financial planning and 401(k) company matches added up to $101,487 for Williams...



H. Edward Hanway - CIGNA

Total Compensation: $12,236,740

Details: Hanway took a significant pay cut from 2007 to 2008, due mainly to a drop off of more than $11 million in his non-equity incentive plan compensation. Still, his base salary of $1,142,885 surpasses that of Aetna's Williams, and is supplemented by just over $3.6 million in option awards, and just over $820,000 in non-qualified deferred compensation earnings.

Also, nearly $21,800 in "other compensation" included the use of a company car with a driver, in-office meals, and emergency assistance services relating to medical exams...



Angela Braly - WellPoint

Total Compensation: $9,844,212

Details: Braly, like Williams, earned more money in 2008 ($9,844,212) than in 2007 (9,094,271), increasing her option rewards by nearly $1.5 million, and also receiving a $200,000-plus bump in base salary, from $922,269 to $1,135,538. Braly's stock awards dropped from $2,160,159 to $1,750,015 because, according to the SEC, "performance-based restricted stock units awarded in 2008 were cancelled because our ROE target for 2008 was not met."

Braly's "other compensation" comprised use of a private jet for her and her family on business trips, just under $10,000 for legal services relating to her employment agreement and cash credits....

MORE AT:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/26/735411/-Health-insurance-industry-CEO-salary-survey,-stay-calm-for-this

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. why haven't people complained about this?

[sweetladybug]

4. why haven't people complained about this? Because so many people

are to stupid to want to see what these greedy rich bastards are doing to them. This info is not put out so the average person will know this info. Instead you have the right wing nuts on Fox News and most radio stations running their mouths about gays destroying marriages, Democrats are gonna take your guns away and Democrats are killing babies.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

11. they are like lemmings when it comes to healthcare

[eridani]

19. Because they are busy and not sick

5% of the population accounts for 50% of all health care spending, and 15% for 85% of spending. Folks tend not to give a shit until something happens to them.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

22. yes now they are losing their jobs and benefits

[eridani]

63. Some are, but most aren't n/t

[Cleita]

25. People have complained about this, especially Congressman John Conyers,

Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Senator Bernie Sanders, organizations like the Physcians for a National Health Plan myself, as well as many other committed DUers. The problem is there is no laws like tax laws that could prevent this. Since most of our politicians are getting campaign contributions from these companies, they don't have the will to do something about it, like pass laws forbidding insurance and for profit companies to deliver health care.

[snowdays]

26. and the California Nurses Assoc is in that pac.

[AllyCat]

48. While I object to the way CNA does union business, I am glad they are

fighting with SEIU and others on this issue.

[DissedByBush]

56. On one hand, I don't care

I normally don't care if a CEO makes a billion dollars a year as long as he is worth it to his profitable company.

But these profits in no small part came from denying care to people who needed it. It is tainted money, not that these people have a conscience about it.

[rgbecker]

2. As long as private insurance is involved in the nation's health care...

There will be no incentive to decrease the cost of health care. These people's pay is dependent on growing their companies and they will grow as the cost of health care grows. As their revenues grow, so will their profits as there is no check on how they screen customers nor deny payments. These folks should not even be allowed into the health care reform discussions, and we should be talking about a single payer system for America. We don't need private insurers skimming 30% off the top of every dollar spent on health care in America.

[blue neen]

3. Excellent information.

When the administration talks about reducing costs, these salaries would be the first place to start.

[RagAss]

6. That ain't happening.

[snowdays]

45. Did anything happen when Pres. Obama called out the car

companies or bank salaries.? some voluntarily cut back for a bit.But when all is said and done, not much will happen.

[MessiahRp]

54. Nope they just shifted the money...

Oh we'll work for a $1 base salary, but get the rest back in bonuses and stock options. :puke:

Rp

[Wednesdays]

5. K&R

:kick:

[OhioChick]

7. K&R

:kick:

[walldude]

8. Haven't you heard? Health care is a privilege.

You have the privilege of paying too much for not enough so the people who have it all can get more. :angry:

[marmar]

9. It's time for a revolution.....

.... Political action groups, protests and emails aren't working.


No work, no school, blocking vehicles......whatever it takes. Bring this country to a halt.

[snowdays]

27. I would do that..........

but I am not a good organizer (lame excuse I know). I think a few dents are being made but not much else at this point:-)

[pleah]

38. My husband and I have been saying that for years. Maybe

now people are listening. The politicians sure aren't.

[AwakeAtLast]

10. That money would pay for a lot of medical care.....

x(

[Horse with no Name]

12. So when people ask HOW we are going to pay for healthcare for everyone without raising taxes

without even opening the link, I can show you $50,000,000 to put in the pot--and that is ONLY 3 salaries.:mad:

[eridani]

20. Of course taxes will be raised. But let's just call them "premiums" because that is what they are

The point is that we are already paying for universal health care--we just aren't getting it. Now ask me if I'd rather pay a $150/mo "tax" or a $450/month COBRA "premium" for my health care.

[hfojvt]

13. how is this such a big deal?

I am not a fan of multi-million dollar salaries, but considering that Wellpoint, for example, has 35 million customers, then its customers are paying a whopping 28 cents a piece for Ms. Braly's salary. Or, it has 42,000 employees, who could get $234 more per year if Ms. Braly didn't get paid.

Their net income was $3.345 billion from revenue of $61.134 billion. They are charging an average of $1,756 per customer in 2007. This is up from $1,315 in 2005. That's a 33.5% increase in just two years. Of their $57.8 billion in expenses 14.5% of it (or $8.4 billion) was from selling, general and administrative expense. Meaning they paid about $49.4 billion for their customers' medical expenses.

If they cut their profits and their overhead in half, they could increase medical payments by only 11.88%. That's not nothing, but it's not a huge deal either, is it?

edit: might as well include the link
http://www.wellpoint.com/business/default.asp

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

15. ok, besides the fact that i am paying way too much for the most

minimum health care coverage, and leaving all health care issues behind, for me this is a big deal because executive salaries and compensation have gotten way out of control. Way out of control, when the average executive makes over 400 times the average worker (only in the US), something is seriously out of whack.

Look at how wages have been declining for middle class workers....An airline pilot makes $16,000 annually, air traffic controllers have never regained the ground they lost under St. Ronnie. Construction used to be a good middle class wage, not so much anymore. Grocery workers used to make a decent wage, not so much after the contract, unless you were grandfathered in under previous union wages. I could go on and on with dozens of examples. My own husband worked for a big big corporation for almost 20 years, only to show up to work one day last July to see that his job had been eliminated - his job was advertised as non-benefited contract labor a month later. He is fifty and probably will never find a job with comparable wages (and he worked hard, had forward moving employment and glowing performance reviews).

Why is it only middle class wages go down...When is enough enough? Are we really going to be a nation of outrageously paid executives and the rest of us barely limping along? Why are executives rewarded when they cut jobs for Americans, and sometimes even rewarded when their company fails to prosper....Why is there no balance to the system?

Why is considered income redistribution when wealth flows down, but not when it flows up?..... Why are union members constantly being told they must make "concessions", but you never hear that asked of executives.

And trust me Ms. Braley doesn't have any unique talents that probably hundreds of thousands of other Americans don't have, she just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Plenty of Americans work just as hard, with much less, and I mean much less reward.

These are only some of the reasons it is a big deal to me. IMHO

[hfojvt]

16. it's numb3rs though

like I said, cut her salary in half, and it's a gain of 14 cents for the average customer or $117 for the average worker. I just don't think there is anything specific to health care about this. I think the 70% income tax rate needs to be brought back.

As far as the special talents, I am still up in the air. With a football analogy, I think games are won and lost in the trenches, with an offensive line that protects the quarterback and opens up holes for the fullback and with a defensive line that harrasses the other quarterback and prevents the other running game. In the same way, the grunts are doing all of the 'real' work in a corporation. But I have also seen what a huge difference a star quarterback or a good coach can make to the same team. The Arizona Cardinals were probably not going to the Superbowl without Warner or Fitzgerald.

Teams and corporation pay big bucks trying to get and keep people they think are stars. Sometimes they guess wrong, as past performance does not always lead to future performance (see Leaf, Ryan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Leaf ) and sometimes they get paid even if, or after, they have failed.

It's a screwy system, especially for people at the bottom who are treated like disposable toilet brushes. I think the clearest fix though, is progressive taxes which fund a generous safety net.

[Hannah Bell]

29. here's how those stars do it:

WellPoint Sanctioned

Federal officials temporarily banned health insurer WellPoint Inc. from marketing or selling Medicare health or drug plans after they said computer problems caused it to deny thousands of seniors coverage for vital medications and cancel their benefits.

The ban, effective late Monday, is one of the toughest penalties levied on a private Medicare plan provider since the introduction of the government program's drug benefit three years ago.

In an unusually terse letter to WellPoint, the government agency that oversees Medicare said the company's 'longstanding and persistent failure to comply with requirements' had begun to pose 'a serious threat to the health and safety' of Medicare beneficiaries.

We just posted about how often the antics of the leadership of managed care/ health insurance giant UnitedHealth provide material for Health Care Renewal. Even larger health care insurer/ managed care organization WellPoint has also been a frequent flier on our electronic pages. We most recently posted about financial management issues at WellPoint here, and insurance coverage issues here.

Yet despite evidence of mismanagement and worse leadership problems at large health care organizations, these organizations remain dominant players in our dysfunctional health care system, and the managers and executives who ought to be accountable for these problems continue to blithely collect their tremendous compensation packages.

http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2009/01/wellpoint-sanctioned.html

[Hannah Bell]

31. more

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield -- two of the state's biggest health plans -- agreed Thursday to pay a total of $13 million in fines and to offer new health coverage to more than 2,200 Californians the companies dropped after they became ill.

Neither company admitted to any wrongdoing in agreeing to pay the stiffest penalties yet in efforts by state authorities to curb what they view as an abusive practice of investigating and canceling policies after policyholders run up big medical bills.
Blue Cross, a unit of Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc., will pay a $10-million fine to the state Department of Managed Health Care, and it will offer new coverage to 1,770 former members it canceled since 2004 -- no questions asked.

Competitor Blue Shield, a not-for-profit health plan based in San Francisco, will pay $3 million and offer new policies to 450 people whose coverage was rescinded over the last four years.

The insurers also agreed to establish a process for former members to recover medical expenses they paid out of pocket after they were dropped as well as other damages, such as homes or businesses that were lost because unpaid medical debts ruined the former members' creditworthiness.

[Hannah Bell]

32. raided by the fbi.

Acknowledging 'certain control deficiencies' among its former senior managers, WellCare Health Plans Inc. of Tampa is revising its financial statements from 2004 through mid 2007 to reflect accounting errors over refunds owed to Medicaid plans in Florida and Illinois.

The changes announced late Monday mean WellCare overstated its net income a total of $28-million in that time span. The company has not filed audited financial statements since mid 2007.

WellCare, which was raided by the FBI in late October, said a special internal committee found that the managed-care company had made 'accounting errors' in its compliance with requirements for Florida Medicaid and Healthy Kids programs, as well as its contract with Illinois Medicaid.

[Hannah Bell]

33. insider transactions last two years:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=WLP

just adding up the million-plus trades, it's over 100 million.

[bertman]

51. hfojvt, if he income tax rate is raised, the execs will simply raise their salaries.

There will be a short hue and cry, but that additional $1.49 per customer won't cause a revolt.

You're right. It is a screwy system. It's a system where greed and the accumulation of wealth has trumped every other measure of "success" and well being.

[AdHocSolver]

17. Willie Sutton (bank robber) and Al Capone weren't overpaid either according to your logic.

These medical insurance executives are worse crooks and probably destroyed more lives than Sutton or Capone ever did.

Their salaries are irrelevant. Their predatory business practices are destroying this country, and it is an abomination what they are doing to people, and be allowed to so obscenely profit by others' misery at the same time.

[Hannah Bell]

36. Per their income statement they paid out $46 billion in benefits,

at an average cost of $207,178 per employee.

http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/13/130104/07/Wellpoint-2007-AR/financials/income.html

[harun]

40. If we looked at everything that way Obama would be paid about 20 billion a year for his job.

Heck it would only cost each tax payer $100.

[hfojvt]

59. that's not the way I was looking at it

but if Obama WAS paid something ridiculous like $100 million a year, it would still be wrong to pretend like massively reducing his salary would solve a lot of problems for either the government or the taxpayers.

[harun]

65. Problem with those Health Insurance companies is if the top

guy is getting 25 million it means there are hundreds more making > 1 million a year.

I actually would like to see the president and congress get a big pay raise. I don't know why people carp at pay raises for them every time they get them. If they get money from tax payers it is less they have to go looking for from special interests to fund their campaigns. Also it would help attract more talent away from the private sector towards government.

They could pay the President 10 million and I would think it reasonable. I see that as the top end. I don't think there is any reason for any CEO to be compensated over that amount.

[wroberts189]

44. $3.345 billion.. is this profit to the shareholders or something else?

where does that go?


Is that whats left after all expenses including CEO pay ?


Thx

[vanlassie]

60. Are you serious?

I have worked for one of these companies for 12 years. They had NO MONEY this year to give raises. I work like a dog under incredible stress in the Customer Service Call Center making these assholes look good.

They turn the screws tighter every year- we must handle calls within about a 400 second time frame....our every minute of the day must be accounted for in about five different ways- we get more to do and less time to do it...and I am paid about $36,000. a year. I have a $2300.00 deductible on my company sponsored health insurance plan. Give me a break. What could a guy at the top POSSIBLY be doing to justify that amount of compensation????

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. I'd like to see the salaries of the heads of the alleged "non-profits"

that operate in Minnesota. I bet they aren't sleeping under bridges.

[Quantess]

18. Nooooo I can't look.

I will look tomorrow.

[moondust]

21. "Vulture Care"

[slipslidingaway]

23. knr nt

[Cleita]

24. K&R

[Uncle Joe]

28. I wonder if these people have a seat at the table?

Thanks for the thread, FourScore.:thumbsup:

[Cleita]

35. I believe their representatives do. n/t

[harun]

37. They own the table, the chairs, the building and the town.

[slipslidingaway]

61. Ron Williams of AETNA and Karen Ignagni of AHIP had seats...

http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearing042109.htm

http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearing050509.html

[backtoblue]

30. Absolutely Outrageous!!!

It seems as if this would have been a hot subject during the AIG bailout, considering the MASSIVE pay these folks are getting. All I can say is that I'm in the wrong fucking business!

[barbtries]

34. it's obscene

where does it end.

[harun]

42. Makes me physically ill to see this.

[pleah]

39. K&R

[depakid]

41. These are the folks that Baucus, Nelson and the rest of the DINO's represent

[Kurovski]

43. HEY! It's hard work denying claims!

[colsohlibgal]

46. Sorry Barack, in place and all, this is criminal.

I see, so 'Yes We Can" means we can happily cling to this completely immoral system and arrest people who want sanity.

Obama, Baucus and the rest of them are relying on enough people staying functionally oblivious, more worried about the results of "American Idol" than the disaster that is our health care system. The corporate news media has been a willing shill for the current mess of a system ( like Gupta ripping "Sicko"), so along with a still sizable amount of people who only get news from Bill-O and totally degenerate people like Hannity, Beck, and the guy just to the right of Hitler, Michael Weiner this is a huge problem.

If the news was working correctly, every time someone like Baucus does like he did, there would be a box along any article about such matter, laying out just how much money he/she gets from the industry or whatever in question.

[Soylent Brice]

47. we are all

when we should be

[Kaleko]

49. Another K & R

[Stuart G]

50. Obscene nt.

[Locrian]

52. incredible and ACCEPTED by business

How the flying FUCK does anyone consider this "moral" or "ethical"? We hear ENDLESS cries about business being free and unrestrained bla bla blah.

Where the hell is anyone (in the MSM or business) balancing this with cries about the IMMORAL and UNETHICAL practices like this?

Ron Williams - Aetna Total Compensation: $24,300,112
H. Edward Hanway - CIGNA Total Compensation: $12,236,740
Angela Braly - WellPoint Total Compensation: $9,844,212

10-30 MILLION dollars for some fuckwad CEO while people are dying in the streets?

[rpannier]

53. Bet Ron Williams is saying

Aetna, glad I met ya.

[LaPera]

55. Insurance companies want to keep those tax dollars rolling in & are donating & bribing congress to

keep that tax money rolling in...Insurance companies get a huge gigantic chunk of their annual billions from our tax dollars and they don't want to see it spent on tax payers (you & me) for Universal Health Care so they are buying off congress!

[PM Martin]

57. We Canadians have a great health care system.

Do not be fooled by the propaganda given from the health insurance con artists.

[Grinchie]

58. Hush money is expensive!

It's pretty clear that the CEO is at the top of the food chain when it comes to the Fraud that drives the modern day Corporation. Is it any wonder that they demand huge compensation for being somewhat responsible for the fraud thay knowingly commit on a day to day basis in order to maximize profits?

These high wages are nothing more than insurance for the day they get busted and need to hire a bunch of fancy big city lawyers.

[livefreest]

62. this is strange. an extremely successful surgeon makes between 500k and 1 million. what is the basis

that supports that a CEO of an insurance company should make 9 times or 25 times more than a successful surgeon?

On one hand we have a surgeon whose income increases as she/he saves lives, on the other hand we have a CEO of an insurance company who makes more and more the fewer lives she/he saves. In addition the CEO is winning this earnings battle. is this the most illogical thing in our society?

[SecularMotion]

64. Kick

:kick:

[Quantess]

66. kick

[KakistocracyHater]

67. get rid of ceo position altogether-lavishly paying them to wreck

your company? Are all the board of directors insane?! Or maybe they can't think for themselves very much; you know, my proposal is sssssooooooo shocking: quit rewarding failures, or expect more of the same. These ceos have NOT taken care of corporation "X" very well, in fact he bankrupted them. What to do?..........Oh, I've got it: PAY THEM extravagantly!