Monday, August 07, 2006

Newest Compensation Charts




Modern Healthcare has their annual compensation report available. It is posted at the following site. [Controversy, salaries rise]

The 1.7 million stock options that UnitedHealth bestowed on McGuire last year pushed his total to 35.2 million options, valued at $1.78 billion -- a figure that has turned the 57-year-old executive into critics' poster child for exorbitant corporate pay in recent months




People continually complain about exorbitant healthcare costs and usually blame those who are most easily targeted. But this article shows that we have a system that is way out of balance when it comes to paying for services that are actually performed.

Sooner or later, if affordable healthcare is truly an item of mutual concern then we will have to address these kinds of issues. If free market is to rule, then we need to eliminate the restraints on select individuals in the healthcare field and require individuals to dictate healthcare by their pocketbooks and wallets. This means individuals will need to take responsibility for the cost of their healthcare rather than abrogating it to third parties. Third party payers are destroying our access and quality of care.

On the other hand, if we decide to govern and legislate healthcare, then we need to reform issues like these outrageous salaries and perks. We will need to simplify the methods and payment structures and place limitations equally. The current situation, as shown in the charts, is sucking our system dry.

We cannot have it both ways.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

The higher-ups at most insurance companies have levels of compensation that are nothing short of obscene!

This is not just CEOs, COOs or CFOs, it's throughout upper management. My nephew works for Farm Bureau as a manager and gets so many perks it's disgusting, while at the same time buying into the company line that payouts (i.e. services)must be cut!

8/07/2006 01:27:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Most analysts believe that if employer provided healthcare plans were terminated and individuals bought their own health plans that the plans' costs would actually rise because the marketing and administrative expenses per policy would be higher.

In any event, the market power currently enjoyed by only a few buyers (insurers) facing many sellers (providers)would not change because there would still be only a few big insurers due to the large amount of capital required for new firms to enter the insurance industry.

8/07/2006 05:51:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Individuals and industries have been fed up for a long time. MDs are not concerned about how much patients and their employers have been paying for health insurance premiums, co-pays and deductibles, they're concerned that now as contract reimbursement rates have been dropped to the level of Medicare and below, they aren't making enough money. Those 2 things tend to be referred to as one in the same in these discussions. I don't think they are.

8/10/2006 10:30:00 AM  

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