The Arrogance, It Burns
Anthem (Blue Cross) justified the company's outrageous rate hikes here in California by noting the explosion in health care costs. The company didn't actually want to raise premiums by up to 39% on individual policies, but it had to because the doctors and hospitals were charging so much. The CEO of Anthem's parent company, Wellpoint, even took time out of her very busy schedule to appear at a congressional hearing to point out the problem.
What she didn't mention, however, was the sizable hike in pay she and other top executives of the company got this year.
From the Los Angeles Times:
WellPoint Inc. revealed Friday that it boosted its chief executive's compensation 51% last year, even as the health insurance giant prepared massive rate increases in California that embroiled it in a national controversy over skyrocketing health insurance costs. ...
Chief Executive Angela F. Braly saw her total compensation shoot to $13.1 million, from $8.7 million a year earlier, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. At least three other WellPoint executives got compensation increases of as much as 75%.
And this is justified how? With the usual excuses:
Indianapolis-based WellPoint defended the pay increases, saying they reflected the company's overall positive performance in 2009. Its stock price rose 38.4% last year to $58.29, from $42.13 in 2008.
The company said compensation for its top executives was at or below the median for comparably sized companies. Premiums are being driven up by rising healthcare costs that are beyond its control, a spokesman said.
Say what? A 38.4% increase in stock price gets a CEO a 51% increase in compensation, much of it in stock? That's some fuzzy math, it is.
And it's not like everybody is doing it. In fact, executive pay actually went down last year, according to the article. These numbers make slightly (but only slightly) more sense:
The pay hikes at WellPoint come at a time when overall CEO compensation has been falling slightly amid the recession and a public furor over executive pay levels.
A survey this week of 200 large companies by the Hay Group, a management consulting firm, showed average CEO pay decreasing 0.9% to $6.95 million last year. It was the second-straight annual drop, according to the firm.
I admit that as I've grown older, my brain functions a bit more slowly. I'd appreciate it someone, preferably my congress critters, explained to me again why the for-profit insurance companies didn't get cut out of the loop of providing health care access the way the banksters got cut out of the loop of providing student loans.
What she didn't mention, however, was the sizable hike in pay she and other top executives of the company got this year.
From the Los Angeles Times:
WellPoint Inc. revealed Friday that it boosted its chief executive's compensation 51% last year, even as the health insurance giant prepared massive rate increases in California that embroiled it in a national controversy over skyrocketing health insurance costs. ...
Chief Executive Angela F. Braly saw her total compensation shoot to $13.1 million, from $8.7 million a year earlier, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. At least three other WellPoint executives got compensation increases of as much as 75%.
And this is justified how? With the usual excuses:
Indianapolis-based WellPoint defended the pay increases, saying they reflected the company's overall positive performance in 2009. Its stock price rose 38.4% last year to $58.29, from $42.13 in 2008.
The company said compensation for its top executives was at or below the median for comparably sized companies. Premiums are being driven up by rising healthcare costs that are beyond its control, a spokesman said.
Say what? A 38.4% increase in stock price gets a CEO a 51% increase in compensation, much of it in stock? That's some fuzzy math, it is.
And it's not like everybody is doing it. In fact, executive pay actually went down last year, according to the article. These numbers make slightly (but only slightly) more sense:
The pay hikes at WellPoint come at a time when overall CEO compensation has been falling slightly amid the recession and a public furor over executive pay levels.
A survey this week of 200 large companies by the Hay Group, a management consulting firm, showed average CEO pay decreasing 0.9% to $6.95 million last year. It was the second-straight annual drop, according to the firm.
I admit that as I've grown older, my brain functions a bit more slowly. I'd appreciate it someone, preferably my congress critters, explained to me again why the for-profit insurance companies didn't get cut out of the loop of providing health care access the way the banksters got cut out of the loop of providing student loans.
Labels: Corporate Welfare, Insurance Companies, Universal Health Care Access
posted by Diane at 3:24 AM
1 Comments:
"I'd appreciate it someone, preferably my congress critters, explained to me again why the for-profit insurance companies didn't get cut out of the loop of providing health care access the way the banksters got cut out of the loop of providing student loans."
I would think it's obvious: one assumes there was less lobbying money spent to keep the banksters in student loans than that spent to keep the insurers in the health care industry.
Post a Comment
<< Home