retirement package worth $110.9 million. Cigna paid Hanway and his successor, David Cordani, a total of $136.3 million last year
136 mil sounds huge, but if 110 was the retirement package, this means that they were actually paid 26 mil for the year - between the 2 of them, no?
That's a lot of money, but far from the impact of the 136 mil number, which is what will register in the readers mind after a fast casual read. That's misleading writing.
Many years ago, in NY, there was an HMO called US Health. One day a story hit the headlines that its founder/owner and CEO paid himself a salary of $10 million. This number upset a lot of doctors, who felt underpaid by the stingy HMO. My argument was that the guy OWNS the company, and his salary is really meaningless, he can pay himself whatever he wants. My argument was not well accepted...... but I was right - a few years later the guy sold the entire company for a cool $1 billion.
The guy was originally, as I recall, I pharmacist who was a big believer in the idea of pre-paid care. He started the company a few decades earlier, with hardly any money.
Another similar story is about a man by the name Steve Wiggins - who started Oxford Health Plans when he had 10 thousand bucks to his name.
It's still America. Some people still succeed big. |
