Top health insurance CEO pay exceeds $10 million in 2014

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“The CEOs of the Big Five for-profit health insurance companies all took home at least $10 million in 2014, according to each insurers’ annual filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).”

Heads of Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealth earn top dollars

April 10, 2015 | By Brian Eastwood

The CEOs of the Big Five for-profit health insurance companies all took home at least $10 million in 2014, according to each insurers’ annual filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Payer CEO compensation ranged from $10.1 million for Humana CEO Bruce D. Broussard to more than $15 million for Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini. Compensation for the Anthem, Cigna and UnitedHealth CEOs also fell in that range. To be fair, each company performed well in 2014–health insurance stocks hit an all-time high in January 2015 and have continued to climb since then.

Below is information about each CEO’s salary, other compensation, and stock and option awards in 2014. The totals below do not include the value that could be realized if executives exercised their options or vested their stocks.

Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini: $15 million
Bertolini’s 2014 base salary was $996,169, according to Aetna’s SEC filing. He also earned nearly $1.7 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, nearly $400,000 in other compensation and close to $12 million in stock and option awards. Bertolini earned more than twice as much in 2013–$30.7 million–thanks to nearly $28 million in stocks and options.
Latest news: Latest Aetna marketing campaign targets LGBT community

Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish: $13.5 million
Swedish received a base salary of $1.25 million in 2014, according to Anthem’s SEC filing. In addition, he earned more than $2.1 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, about $140,000 in other compensation and $10 million in stock and option awards. Swedish earned nearly $17 million in 2013.
Latest news: Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish wants to change how we think about healthcare

Cigna CEO David Cordani: $14.5 milion
The Cigna SEC filing indicated that Cordani received a base salary of $1.125 million in 2014, along with $1.9 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, about $240,000 in other compensation and $11 million in stock and option awards. This compares to $12.9 million in 2012 and $13.5 million in 2013.
Latest news: Cigna, SCAN join forces to offer group retiree Medicare Advantage plans in California

Humana CEO Bruce Broussard: $10.1 million
Broussard took home a base salary of more than $1.1 million in 2014, his first full year as both the company’s CEO and president, according to Humana’s SECfiling. He also earned nearly $1.7 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, close to $600,000 in other compensation and about $6.75 million in stock and option awards. Broussard earned $8.8 million in 2013 and $2.8 million in 2012, his first full year as president of Humana.
Latest news: Humana CEO Bruce Broussard: ‘Health should be easy’

UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Helmsley: $14.9 million
Helmsley’s 2014 base salary was $1.3 million, according to UnitedHealth’s SECfiling. On top of that, he earned nearly $4 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, more than $100,000 in other compensation and about $9.5 million in stocks and options. Helmsley earned $12 million in 2013 and nearly $13.9 million in 2012.
Latest news: UnitedHealth-Catamaran deal all about negotiating better drug prices