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Did you get a raise in 2009?

CEOs of the nation’s largest health insurers most certainly did; CIGNA, UnitedHealth, Humana and Wellpoint. In fact, as a reward for many years of excessive hikes to insurance premiums executed under his leadership, Edward Hanway, the former CEO of CIGNA was provided with a retirement package worth $110.9 million, paid for by the excessive and unnecessarily high insurance premiums billed to CIGNA’s policy holders.

Excessive premium hikes from U.S. health insurers are an industry-wide problem and have been for well over a decade. Rather than real competition, the industry engages in collusion with territorial monopolies and duopolies.

As you might imagine, soaring premiums have prevented millions of Americans from obtaining affordable health insurance. In addition, the equally long trend of rising co-payments, higher deductibles and lower benefits has escalated the nation’s rate of medical bankruptcy.

Medical bankruptcies now account for more than one half of all personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. each year.