short profiles of each of the top 5 largest

health insurance corporations in the United States

1. UnitedHealth Group

• profit in 2008: $2.977 billion
• money spent on lobbying 2009: $2,620,000
• money spent on lobbying 2008: $4,710,000
• CEO pay 2008: Stephen J. Hemsley $3,241,042

United Health is a top contributor of campaign money to:

• Senator Ben Nelson (D), Nebraska – $17,000 (2010 cycle), his 25th largest contributor.
  • Article: Ben Nelson bows to the insurance industry;
  • Article: Ben Nelson Plans To Oppose Public Health Plan

• Senator Mark Udall (D), Colorado – $23,400 (2010 cycle) – his 14th largest contributor

• Senator Harry Reid (D), Nevada – $10,000 (UnitedHealth PAC – 2008 cycle)
  • key Senate assignment: Senate Majority Leader

UnitedHealth – key articles:

• Greed Thrives In Our Health Care System: A look at the UnitedHealth CEO
• Did UnitedHealth and other insurers lean on their employees to lobby Congress — on work time?
• The email UnitedHealth sent to employees urging their employees to lobby members of Congress, Sept 2nd, 2009
• CEO pay on steroids – William McGuire, case in point William McGuire’s pay of $124.8 million could cover the average health-insurance premiums of nearly 34,000 people.
• UnitedHealth Settles Cheating Claims for $400 Million
  
• Senator opens investigation into AARP insurance.  Sen. Grassley looks into some niche health insurance plans offered to AARP members to see if they mislead purchasers into thinking the coverage is greater than it actually is.
• Lawmakers Who Called Lewin Group’s Data ‘Nonpartisan’ Collect Cash From Parent Company UnitedHealth

2. WellPoint (parent of BlueCross/BlueShield)

• profit in 2008: $2.4907 billion
• money spent on lobbying in 2009: $9,529,747 (through BlueCross/Blue Shield)
• money spent on lobbying in 2008: $15,560,165 (through BlueCross/Blue Shield)
• CEO pay 2008: Angela F. Braly 2008 – $8,665,569

Wellpoint is a top contributor of campaign money to:

• President Barack Obama (D), Illinois – $155,287 (2008 cycle)
  • Article: North Carolina’s Blue Cross Blue Shield Trying to Kill Key Plank of Obama Plan
• Sen. John McCain (R), Arizona (Presidential candidate) – $84,230 (2008 cycle)
• Sen. Carl Levin (D), Michigan – $48,100 (2008 cycle), his top contributor
  • key House assignment: Armed Services Committee
  • Article: Levin urges Democrats to back health care reform

Wellpoint – key articles

• WellPoint spent $1.2M lobbying government in April-June 2009
• WellPoint Cut Elderly Off From Medicines
• WellPoint CEO wary of U.S. government health plan
• Blue Cross fears competition from the public option
• How Insurance Really Works, Courtesy of WellPoint – discusses plans for recovery of its declining business. In a company’s conference call, CEO Angela Braly forthrightly noted that WellPoint will — guess what? — raise premiums, primarily on sick people and the elderly who are using too many prescription drugs, while doing its best to pay less for medical care.

3. Aetna

• profit in 2008: $1.3841 billion
• money spent on lobbying in 2009 (to Aug): $1,441,639
• money spent on lobbying in 2008: $2,033,778
• CEO pay 2008: Ronald A. Williams – $18,608,778

Aetna is a top contributor of campaign money to:

• Senator Olympia J Snowe (R), Maine $27,250 (2010 cycle), her #2 contributor
  • Key committee Assignment: Finance
  • Article: Snowe’s Ties To Health Care Industry Raise Concern As Reform Talk Heats Up
  • Article: Olympia Snowe admits public option not on the table in Senate Finance Committee
  • Olympia Snowe’s Mixed Messages on a “Public Option”

• Senator Max Baucus (D), Montana -$45,250 (2010 cycle), his 5th largest contributor)
  • Key committee Assignment: Finance, Chairman (As the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Max Baucus is at the center of the congressional effort to craft health care reform legislation)
  • Article: Single-payer advocates protest Senate hearing
  • Video: Baucus’s Raucous Caucus: Doctors, Nurses and Activists Arrested Again for Protesting Exclusion of Single-Payer

• Senator Susan Collins, Maine – $25,300 (2010 cycle), her 7th largest contributor)
  • Key committee Assignment: Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Ranking Member
  • Article: My visit to Susan Collins’s office

• Senator Joe Lieberman (I), Connecticut – $65,200 (2010 cycle), his 5th largest contributor)
  • Aetna is based in Lieberman’s Connecticut riding
  • Article – Joe Being Joe: Lieberman Says No to “Public Option” on Health-Care Reform

Aetna – key articles:

• UnitedHealth, Aetna 2nd quarter lobby bills top $1.6M Hartford Business, Aug 28th, 2009

4. Humana

• profit in 2008: $647.2 million
• money spent on lobbying in 2009 (to Aug): $950,000
• money spent on lobbying in 2008: $1,785,871
• CEO pay 2008: Michael B. McCallister – $5,185,414

Humana is a top contributor of campaign money to:

• Senator Mitch McConnell (R), Kentucky – $57,400 (2010 cycle), his 8th largest contributor)
  • key Senate assignment: Senate Minority Leader
  • Article: McCan’t and McShouldn’t: John McCain and Mitch McConnell show why bipartisanship on health care is impossible.

• Senator Roger Wicker (R), Mississippi – $11,000 (Humana PAC – 2008 cycle)
• Senator Max Baucus (D), Montana - $10,000 (Humana PAC – 2008 cycle)  (more info, see above)
• Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D), Oregon – $6,000 (2010 cycle), his 4th largest contributor)

5. Cigna

• Profits 2008: $292.0 million
• money spent on lobbying in 2009: $720,000
• money spent on lobbying in 2008: $1,261,436
• CEO pay 2008: H. Edward Hanway $12,236,740

Cigna is a top contributor of campaign money to:

• Senator Saxby Chambliss (R), Georgia – $7,000 (Cigna PAC – 2008 cycle)
  • key Senate assignment: Agriculture, Nutrition, Forestry – ranking member.
  • Article: Saxby Chambliss – Health Care Reform misinformation?

• Senator Harry Reid (D), Nevada – $7,000 (Cigna PAC – 2008 cycle)
  • key Senate assignment: Senate Majority Leader

• Rep. Jim Gerlach (R), Pennsylvania – $7,500 (Cigna PAC – 2008 cycle)
  • key House assignment: Financial Services

Cigna – key articles

• CIGNA has a 33% denial rate on claims in California
• Lawyer of girl who died of cancer blames CIGNA For Her Death
• (video) Massive Pressure Campaign Forces Cigna to Grant a Bone Marrow Transplant to a Legal Aid Attorney Whose Life Hangs in the Balance (from 2002 – Democracy Now!)
• (video) Cigna Denied a Bone Marrow Transplant to an Attorney dying of Multiple Myeloma, Calling the Procedure Experimental (from 2002 – Democracy Now!)

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(The Center for Responsive Politics www.opensecrets.org site is the source for much of the campaign contribution and lobbying information on this page.  Check their incredible site for more info on who is influencing U.S. politics)

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