Aetna’s CEO, Mark Bertolini, is a man who feels entitled. His team lost the election, but he is not going to let the votes of a lot of “little people” get in the way of demanding the Federal Government do what he wants, or else. In his own words:
“The American people are going to suffer because we’ll lay them off–because we know how to respond to these kinds of situations,” Mr. Bertolini warned at a Wall Street Journal CEO Council event.
Yes, that’s right, one of the highest compensated chief executives in the country is threatening to make you suffer unless he gets a deal that eliminates tax increases of roughly 3% on the income of people who earn over $250,000 a year. Oh, and he also wants to delay (if not eliminate) implementation of the provisions of Affordable Care Act.
You can read all the nitty-gritty details regarding his attitude of entitlement and his lavish lifestyle in this Daily Kos diary. The short version: Mr.Bertolini is highly compensated for running a company (the third largest health care company in the US) that provides some of the worst insurance health plans in the country as rated by their customers. Needless to say, they are also one of the most profitable health care companies:
Aetna said its third-quarter profit had risen to $499.2 million, or $1.47 per share, from $490.4 million, or $1.30 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding tax benefits and other special items, earnings rose to $1.55 per share from $1.40. That was ahead of analysts’ average estimate of $1.34, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. […]
Aetna’s revenue increased to $8.9 billion from $8.4 billion, in line with expectations. The company attributed the rise to higher insurance premiums in its commercial, Medicare and Medicaid businesses.
So, not only is Aetna making huge profits, but much of its revenue is attributable to charging higher premiums for its Medicare and Medicaid plans. In short, Aetna is milking the Federal Cash Cow big time, charging more for delivering less. And it’s CEO has the gall to threaten to make Americans “suffer” if he doesn’t get his way, so he can continue to pull down an outrageous income and his company can continue to profit off the misery of its customers.
Now, I understand that many of you may not have any direct investments in Aetna. But you may own mutual funds through your 401K plan or IRA that do invest in Aetna. You may have a pension plan or annuity you purchased that invests in Aetna. I have a modest IRA left over from monies I set aside before I became disabled. I strongly suspect that one of the mutual funds in which my IRA is invested probably owns some Aetna stock. After all, health insurance companies are doing well in the Great Recession, even if many millions of Americans, the people Mr. Bertolini wants to make “suffer” (i.e., more than Aetna’s customers and employees are already suffering) unless President Obama and the Democrats do his bidding.
Obviously, Mr. Bertolini is not a man who got to his position in life by exhibiting compassion or empathy for people who purchase his company’s insurance or earn their living working in professions that don’t screw people over, so an appeal to the “better angels of our nature” to quote Abraham Lincoln isn’t likely to work with him. Therefore, I thought a more direct approach might get his attention. Here is the text of my tweet to M. Berolini who can be reached at @mtbert:
@mtbert Calling my investment adviser today to ask her to sell any interest in Aetna I might own directly or indirectly.Have a nice day.
— Steven Searls (@StevenDBT) November 15, 2012
Feel free to send a similar message to Mr. Bertolini to let him know that suffering can be a two way street.
How does this differ from the activities of organized crime? Like a protection racket – even more organized than the traditional mafiosi.
It doesn’t. However, it isn’t illegal since there is no specific threat to any specific person or business. It’s covered by the first amendment right of free speech. However, in effect, it is an attempt at extortion, just not one we can prosecute.
What am I missing? Americans will be mandated to purchase insurance. All of them. This is somehow bad for insurance companies? All those young, healthy people paying into the pool is bad? Is it just that they don’t want to pay out a damn dime? All this time I was thinking the mandate was a big wet kiss to the insurance business.
Or is it that their petulance rules all?
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They don’t like having to lake 86% of their revenue go to customer care, they don’t like competition from the insurance exchanges which limit their profits, they don’t like having to allow people with pre-existing conditions, etc. Their business model is based on cherry picking customers and denying claims. Often they are the only option for many employees. If people can find better plans that provide better care they will drop Aetna like a hot potato. Their profits are based on predatory tactics, including frequent violations of state regulations regarding insurance. Aetna’s business will be hurt by the ACA and that means it will impact it’s CEO’s compensation and its share price.
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Bertolini is pushing hard for a deal during the lame duck session of Congress and urges President Obama to take the lead. I watched the CNBC video . He clearly advocates tax revenues must be part of the deficit solution.
He clearly wants cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
As a stock holder I now want his salary reduced to make up for my loss of dividend. Guess he didn’t think that through, did he.
And Erskine-Bowles was a turd proposal only a non-teabagger Republican could love.
Since he will likely not fire anyone simply because reality means he’s going to need all hands on deck to manage the surge of business, and certainly he’s threatening to fire the ‘little people’ of his company, and since I can’t see him or his management team cleaning toilets on the executive floor or making their own coffee it does also open a door for Unions to start talking about the power a Union can offer once again.
Are all these executives adding on to the Romney’s campaign of anti women, Latinos, Black Americans and well, just about everybody; and now the executives threaten working class so Unions can talk power and membership? Sort of like the Carnegie Steel plants who pushed their workers too far and saw the workers strike. Americans at every level react against corporate bullying.
Applause StevenD. Applause.
The company I work for was recently purchased by Aetna. Fortunately, I will probably be able to retire in 2 years so I won’t ahve to be associated with it for long.
Ah yes, the powerful Baron Plutocrat speaks. And the corporate media fails to listen. Or report.
Now, what exactly is the connection between Aetna’s payroll and the federal budget? And how exactly does an increase in Mark Plutoturd’s personal tax rate affect Aetna and its employees? Oh, never mind the spurious “logic”. The open, brazen threat is what matters, and it shows that America’s plutocrats have no fear whatever of the people, press or gub’mint.
This is what comes from allowing the willful creation of a class of unaccountable plutocrats—and of giant corporations that know that there is no longer any government or labor power able to oppose them. There are about 1,000 of these guys. They are a small enough group to communicate with each other and coordinate efforts to adversely affect the economy in order to blackmail the country and protect their personal bank accounts. Corporate profits are sky high, they are sitting on billions in cash, the economy is slowly growing, yet they don’t start hiring and instead have members of The Club publicly threaten lay-offs under improving economic conditions. HHHHMMMM….
It’s a shame that the NSA doesn’t turn its attention to the emails and calls of this (very small) class of plutocrats. The Plutocrat Club members (like this turd) are openly characterizing themselves as some sort of organized group (“WE know how to respond to these kind of situations…”). Perhaps there’s some kind of “agreement” in place? What state is Aetna headquartered in? Perhaps its AG needs to start an investigation into whether threatening mass lay offs unless certain political demands are met is actually legal. It’s not like these plutocrats care (or know) much about legal niceties.
As for the little people, all we can do is call for organized boycotts of giant corporations that “employ” gangster CEOs like this amoral monster. Do whatever you can to divest yourself from Aetna.
Convenient how he did this during Medicare open enrollment season. Those of us on Medicare can tweet him and thank him for helping us rule out Aetna as a Medicare Advantage provider.
Mr. Bertolini is already making many Americans suffer. In fact, more than a few of us die unnecessarily each year because of his company and the policies he champions. This is precisely how he became so wealthy, powerful, and entitled.
Mr. Bertolini, and his fellow health insurance company executives, do not deserve a seat at the table (let alone at the head of it, as they demand) in determining health care policy. What they deserve are fair trials for their many crimes against humanity, followed by swift, long-lasting justice.
Even a handful of such trials would do far more to curb the predatory enthusiasms of the rest than any legislation.
threatening to make you suffer unless he gets a deal that eliminates tax increases of roughly 3% on the income of people who earn over $250,000 a year
I call bullshit. The article does not say that. Bertolini says layoffs will happen if a debt agreement is not reached. While he may have offered an opinion on what he thinks the particulars of that deal should be, his preferences aren’t described in the article.
Further, it’s not entirely clear who he’s referring to when he says “we’ll” lay people off. Is he talking about Aetna? Or business in general? His statement scans correctly in either context. In the former it sounds like a threat; in the latter, much less so.
In other related news… (paywall)
Mr. Deckard’s 2010 salary was reported to be $254,000 by a commenter. I wonder if Mr. Deckard has any affordable day care issues?
Gerrymandering won’t protect the rest of the GOP idiots. We can start registering new Democrats soon, I think in December. I plan to do all I can to work with others to increase the base, make voting fair, and get as many good Democrats to replace the rest of the GOP idiots as I can in 2014. I was still fired up and BS like this just makes me dig in more.
I retweeted your tweet and sent this one:
@MagicalEarth
@mtbert I donated to POTUS because of your layoff threat. Will work to defeat the REST of the GOP in 2014. We are sick of your bullying.