To cut its insurance costs, a U.S. papermaker plans to let workers seek medical care abroad in 2007

[cmartyn 0]

Yeah, If IT people have to make 12.00 / hr now, I see no reason a GP should make more than 20. :-)

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

12/hr for IT? Where?

[Nikita2Charles 32]

It's sad and shameful though, THe doctors and the nurses are not the one making the money. The CEO, most of the money is going to ADMINISTRATIVE< SHAREHOLDERS> BOARD OF DIRECTORS>

I am on unitedhealth care, just a couple of months ago, Our doctor decided to drop united healthcare because they are requesting a 20% cut to the fee they are paying the doctors, let alone that fee has been in place for the past 5 years, Instead of increasing the payment to the doctors they want to reduce it even though it's 5 years old, so counting Inflation, they are asking the doctor to work more and to more for less money, so some doctors decide to just DROP THEM>

Will all this, the CEO of Unitedhealth care last year made millions in Bonus and Stocks packages options, now wonder why healthcare is so expensive,

Please read this article!!

How Can a $124.8 Million a Year CEO Make Health Care More Affordable?

United Healthcare's CEO Receives 1 Billion Dollar Bonus

An op-ed piece in the Providence Journal about huge pay packages for corporate CEOs mentioned the breath-taking $124.8 million total compensation of United Health Group (parent of United Healthcare) CEO William McGuire. This figure can also be found in the Forbes Special Report on CEO compensation. Here one can find that other managed care CEOs got less fabulous, but still formidable compensation, e.g., Howard Phanstiel, PacifiCare, 3.38 million; Edward Hanway, Cigna, $13.3 million; John Rowe, Aetna, $22.2 million; and Larry Glassrock, Wellpoint, $25.0 million.

McGuire's compensation was so large as to take a measurable part of this large company's net income (5%). Or to look at it from a stock-holder's (and hence, an company owner's) viewpoint, had McGuire, who is an employee, been only paid a cool million, and this money had been distributed as a dividend, it would amount to about a $0.20 per share dividend. (The current dividend is $0.03 per share.) (See company data available from Forbes as well.)

To look at it from a United employee's viewpoint, had McGuire, who is an employee, been only paid a cool million, and this money had been distributed to employees, each of the 40,000 employees could have received a bonus larger than $3000.

To look at it from the viewpoint of the health care system, the $124.8 million total compensation of a single United employee could pay the salaries of 833 general internists at current typical salaries. Or the $124.8 million could run one reasonable size community hospital for a year.

United Health Group's mission statement is "the company directs its resources into designing products, providing services and applying technologies that improve access to health and well-being services; simply the health care experience; promote quality; and make health care more affordable." (See this fact sheet.) Rather, it seems to be directing a good chunk of its resources into salaries of top management employees. How a $124.8 million CEO salary can be reconciled with a mission to "make health care more affordable" is completly beyond me.

Edited September 19, 2006 by Nikita2Charles

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

There's no justification two people buying the exact same prescription medication should pay vastly different amounts for it.

I'll give you an example. I visited a specialist in the US and was told to buy a nose spray. In the US it is only available by prescription and cost $63USD. I managed to get a larger bottle sent via express post from Australia for $27USD..

It makes no sense when the drugs you are buying are researched, developed and manufactured overseas and are subject here to a 10X price markup. How is that even remotely justifiable, except for pure profit?

[Ban Hammer 13,622]

12/hr for IT? Where?

eek! that's a pay cut!

[Dr_LHA 3]

It makes no sense when the drugs you are buying are researched, developed and manufactured overseas and are subject here to a 10X price markup. How is that even remotely justifiable, except for pure profit?

Simple economics, they sell things at the price the market will bare, rather than the price they cost. I.e. the reason drug prices are so high in the US is that people pay those prices.

[Nikita2Charles 32]

How can a CEO received more than $1billion BONUS

BILLION

Where's that money is coming from???

At the same time, every year we are getting an increased in Premium at Enrollment time

CEO getting BILLIONS

Nurses and doctors being ask to cut their salary intake

IS that capitalist or Injustice??

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It makes no sense when the drugs you are buying are researched, developed and manufactured overseas and are subject here to a 10X price markup. How is that even remotely justifiable, except for pure profit?

Simple economics, they sell things at the price the market will bare, rather than the price they cost. I.e. the reason drug prices are so high in the US is that people pay those prices.

Again - not that they have any choice in the matter because the government (again) sided with corporations against patients/consumers who had found their own way of paying lower prices for the exact same thing.

At the very least, it should have prompted some sort of trading standards investigation. Just goes to show the power of special interest groups and lobbyists.