'Obscene': 70 Top Healthcare CEOs Raked in $9.8 Billion Since 2010

 "The median household income in 2015 was $56,515, which the average healthcare CEO made in less than a day." 
—Bob Herman, Axios

This is beyond obscene and immoral. When profits take such priority over the welfare of human beings, this is the face of late stage addiction to greed. There is also another name for when love, compassion, kindness, caring, and doing the right thing is so completely absent and results in such severe suffering and death - Evil. Another world is possible. - Molly

"Stock-heavy pay drives CEOs to do the exact opposite of their buzzword-laden goals of creating a 'patient-centered' health system that focuses on 'value,'" writes Axios's Bob Herman. (Photo: Elvert Barnes/Flickr/cc)

By

Jake Johnson

While the Senate GOP's plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been denounced as potentially devastating to the poor, the sick, women, people of color, children, and those with pre-existing conditions, a new analysis published Mondayfinds that no matter what happens, the CEOs of large healthcare companies are likely to continue living lavishly.

Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed in 2010, the "CEOs of 70 of the largest U.S. healthcare companies cumulatively have earned $9.8 billion," according to a new analysis by Axios's Bob Herman.

Herman goes on to add that the CEOs' earnings "far outstrip[ped] the wage growth of nearly all Americans."

"The richest year [for healthcare CEOs] was 2015, when 70 healthcare CEOs collectively made $2 billion," Herman notes. "That was an average of about $28.5 million per CEO and a median of about $17.3 million per CEO. The median household income in 2015 was $56,515, which the average healthcare CEO made in less than a day."

John Martin, former CEO of the pharma giant Gilead Sciences, topped Axios's list: he pulled in $863 million in the "ACA era."

CEOs of 70 of the largest US health care companies have earned $9.8 billion in the seven years since ACA was passed https://t.co/1VBAavfiWZpic.twitter.com/aeXbUmtW4j

— Axios (@axios) July 24, 2017

Despite President Donald Trump's repeated insistence that Obamacare has been a "nightmare" and that the entire system is collapsing, Herman observes, "The ACA has not hurt the healthcare industry. Stock prices have boomed, and CEOs took home nearly 11 percent more money on average every year since 2010." And the Senate GOP's alternative, which Trump has enthusiastically endorsed, would likely be a further boon to industry executives, who would stand to benefit from the bill's massive tax cuts for the wealthy.

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