Back by popular demand. First Blog post August 8, 2009

President Obama called for a bipartisan health care summit that begins tomorrow, February 25, 2010. I have heard from several readers of this blog to re-post my first entry. Enjoy AGAIN

Saturday, August 8, 2009
Welcome to Health Care Now. This Blog is dedicated to fixing a very broken health care system in the USA.

There can be no real health care reform without insurance and pharmaceutical industry reform. Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical Companies DO NOT PROVIDE HEALTH CARE. These companies are in busines to make money for their shaeholders and executives. Check this out!


UnitedHealth CEO
Stephen J. Hemsley
2007 Compensation
$13.2 million
2008 Compensation (Forbes)
$3,241,042
Former Managing Partner and CFO of Arthur Andersen (BusinessWeek)
Total Value of Unexercised Stock Options (Forbes)
$744,232,068
2009 Options Exercise
$127,001,281
Value of Wayzata, Minnesota Home (Hennepin County Assessor)
$6,640,000
Articles:
Hemsley returns $190 million in stock options acquired as a result of practices found to be fraudulent by the SEC (American Medical News)

CIGNA CEO
Edward Hanway
Five-Year Compensation, as of April 30, 2008 (Forbes)
$120.51 million
Total Value of Unexercised Stock Options (Forbes)
$28,881,000
Value of New Jersey Beach Home (Cape May County Assessor)
$13,607,400
Articles:
The family of a 17-year-old girl who died hours after CIGNA reversed a decision and said it would pay for a liver transplant plans to sue the company, their attorney said Friday.
Hundreds of entertainment industry workers in California and New Jersey who buy health insurance as a group are being hit with a rate increase that will raise some family-plan premiums to more than $44,000 a year.

Humana CEO
Michael McCallister
2007 Compensation
$10.3 million
2008 Compensation (Forbes)
$1,017,308
Five-Year Compensation Total (Forbes)
$15.1 million
Total Value of Unexercised Stock Options (Forbes)
$60,865,194
2006 Options Exercise (SECForm4)
$22,294,710
Value of Park City, Utah Home (County Assessor)
$6,978,380
Articles:
Humana abandons senior citizens in Florida, returns after Republicans pass new Medicare law, upping HMO payments by ~ 25% (NY Times)

Aetna CEO
Ronald A. Williams
2007 Compensation
$23 million
2008 Compensation (Forbes)
$24,300,112
Total Value of Unexercised Options (Forbes)
$194,496,797
Williams is in the top ten of Forbes'"$100 Million CEO Club."
Articles:
Health insurance giants Aetna and CIGNA, along with others, became the latest targets of a wide-ranging probe launched by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, according to USA Today. (source)

Coventry CEO
Allen Wise
CEO from 1996-2004, and from January 2009-Present
2004 Compensation (Forbes)
$13,052,799
2006 Sale of Stock
$14,458,251
2006 Options Exercised
$2,895,000
2005 Sale of Stock
$46,410,695
2005 Options Exercised
$6,709,564
2004 Sale of Stock
$12,826,756
2004 Options Exercised
$4,798,000
Value of Hilton Head, SC Home (Beaufort County Assessor)
$3,275,500

WellPoint CEO
Angela Braly
2007 Compensation (secinfo)
$9,094,271
2008 Compensation (Forbes)
$9,844,212
2006 Sale of Stock (SECForm4)
$4,858,585
2006 Options Excerise (SECForm4)
$4,566,124
Value of Indianapolis Home
$1,987,700

This is just a handful of health insurance executives. None of these people have ever diagnosed or treated any patient in their executive capacity. In fact, they participate in developing company policy that limits health care to their policy holders and in many cases deny health care to their policy holders. Withholding funding for health care is how these obscene salaries are paid.

Remove health insurance companies from the equation and all this money could actually be used to provide health care for those in need.
Posted by Doc at 5:41 AM