THE NATIONAL ROSTER: AETNA
Headquarters:
Hartford, Connecticut2007 Profits:
$1.831 billion2007 CEO Total Compensation:
Ronald A. Williams, $23,045,834
Aetna has a long history in the business of insurance. Founded to sell life insurance in 1850, it became the first insurance company owned by stockholders to go into the health coverage business.
Infamous For:
“Underwriting Discipline”
In 2007, Aetna applauded itself for its low “medical loss ratio”--the percentage of revenue it “loses” to paying for health care. (Sensitive to public relations, the industry now calls this a “medical benefit ratio.”)
“Our commercial medical benefit ratio of 79.2% for the fourth quarter and 79.5% for the full year reflected solid underwriting discipline and our focused efforts in the area of medical management,” CEO Ronald Williams told investors in February, 2008.
Translation:
We are proud to spend less than 80 percent of premiums on health care by avoiding unhealthy enrollees and keeping a lid on services.
Read about other insurance companies on the national roster:
CIGNA | Coventry | Health Net | Humana | UnitedHealth | WellPoint
LATEST SCORECARD
Fifty-eight percent of primary care doctors in the U.S. report their patients often have difficulty paying for medications and care, and half of U.S. doctors spend substantial time dealing with restrictions insurance companies place on their patients’ care, according to the 2009 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey.
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Families saw their premiums for job-based health insurance rise to an average of $13,375 annually in 2009, with workers paying an average share of $3,515 and employers paying $9,860.
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