13 Health Plan CEOs Earned $118 Million in '08, Health Plan Week Reports

AIS's Health Plan Week surveys leading health plans on 2008 executive compensation and publishes results.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) June 15, 2009 -- Atlantic Information Services, Inc. (AIS) -- The CEOs from 13 of the nation's largest health insurance companies collectively earned $118 million in 2008, according to an analysis of proxy statements conducted by AIS's Health Plan Week. And the second-highest-paid executives at these companies brought in a combined $64 million last year. This means the 26 top-earning executives at these health plans made more than $182 million last year, an average of $7 million per executive. Those figures don't include stock and other noncash rewards. Details on both the cash and noncash compensation appear in the June 8 issue of HPW.

Ronald Williams, chairman and CEO of Aetna Inc., was the highest-paid health plan CEO last year with total annual compensation of $24.3 million, HPW reported. He easily outpaced 2007 leader Edward Hanway, chairman and CEO of CIGNA Corp., who came away with $12.2 million last year, well under his 2007 total compensation of $25.8 million. Williams also is now the highest-compensated executive in the Forbes annual salary ranking of top executives in the health care equipment and services industry sector, and 22nd on the Forbes list of 500 highest-paid executives at publicly traded firms.

Go to http://www.aishealth.com/ManagedCare/CompanyIntel/ExecComp.html to access detailed compensation data for top executives from 13 health plans.

Seven of the 26 health plan and insurance company executives tracked by HPW landed on the Forbes top 500 list for 2008. Hanway came in at 135th, a steep drop from his ranking of 53rd highest-paid executive in 2007. All compensation figures are based on data reported in the company proxy statements and 10-K forms filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Health Plan Week, formerly Managed Care Week, is a subscription newsletter, published by Atlantic Information Services, Inc. (AIS), and is in its 19th year as the market leader in hard-hitting business, financial and regulatory news of the health insurance industry. Visit http://www.aishealth.com/Products/NewsMCW.html for more information.

# # #