Health care

Health care CEOs get paid so much it will make you sick

The country’s most influential health executives have no incentive to change the status quo.

Health care

$20M
The average annual compensation for CEOs at the largest health care companies in the U.S. between 2010 and 2017
Health care

Health care CEOs get paid so much it will make you sick

The country’s most influential health executives have no incentive to change the status quo.

Health care CEOs in the U.S. have been making money hand over fist in the seven years since the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was passed.

CEO pay has been rising by about 11 percent every year since 2010, according to an Axios analysis of 113 CEOs at 70 of the largest health care companies. The average annual CEO pay package was worth $20 million, much of it in stock.

John Martin, former CEO of the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, topped the list, bringing home $863 million in the ACA era, Axios reported.

The focus on stock price incentivizes CEOs to push their companies to sell more prescription drugs, perform more tests and services, and raise prices, actions which often do not lead to better care.