Yesterday UnitedHealth Group reported first quarter earnings of $1.19 billion and revenue of $23.19 billion.
Assuming the population of the United States is 300 million, $1.19 billion means nearly $4 for each man, woman, and child and $23.19 billion means about $77 for each person. That's just for the first quarter. If the figures stay about the same for the next three quarters, then the per person figures will be $16 and $308, respectively.
The CEO of UnitedHealth received $98.6 million compensation last year. That's about thirty-three cents per person("UnitedHealth CEO reaps nearly $100 million from stock options", David Hilzenrath, Washington Post, 2010-04-16).
One commentator said that the CEOs pay was not that exorbitant because much of it was the exercise of options granted several years ago. But where did the stock come from when the options were exercised? I bet the 4.9 million shares came from the UnitedHealth treasurer, that is, shares set aside at the time of granting the options. Stephen Hemsley paid $8.72 per share when they were trading for $28.94. If UnitedHealth had sold those shares on the market, it could have gotten about $98 million more. That could go a long way to reducing health care premiums for a lot of people.
