Steinbrenner would blanch


Opinion: August 30, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

Steinbrenner would blanch

EDITOR:

I would like to introduce you to my starting lineup; Larry Glasscock, $46,212,719; Joel Gemunder, $17,700,473; Michael Smith, $17,526,297; David Frick, $17,465,297; William Shea, $16,663,501; Keith Faller, $13,098,415; Leonard Schaeffer, $11,695,355; Allen Wise, $10,081,451, and William McGuire M.D., $10,001,499. If you thought these nine men were the lineup of some sports team, you would be wrong. Not even the New York Yankees could afford them. What you are looking at is the 2008 salaries of some of the top executives in the health-care field. These salaries do not include stock options.

Let tell you what teams they work for. Mr. Glasscock, Mr. Smith, Mr. Frick, and Mr. Faller are executives in Anthem. Mr. Gemunder works for Omnicare. Mr. Shea works for Conseco. Mr. Schaeffer works for WellPoint Health. Mr. Wise works for Coventry Health Care and Dr. McGuire works for United Health Care. At least Dr. McGuire is actually a health care professional. These salaries were found on the Web sites of Fortune and Forbes, executive pay sections. It is amazing to see the number of health insurance executives who are in the top 1,000.

These are people that do not in any way help us medically. They deny service on a daily basis to Americans in order that they may improve their bottom line. The combined salaries of just these nine executives is $160,445,007 in just the year 2008.

These are the people that are behind the “Astroturf protesters.” These are the people that are spending $1.5 million a day to defeat health care reform. Those Americans who have health insurance should remember these figures every time their premium or co-pay goes up and every time they are denied coverage for a procedure their doctor thinks they should have. Those Americans with pre-existing conditions or who lost their coverage because their employer can no longer afford the premiums or who have lose their jobs, might want to contact one of these people to find out what they should do.

THOMAS P. LAMB

Youngstown