Health Insurers Have Funneled $120B to Shareholders Since 2010
Since the passage of the ACA, the US’s largest health insurers have dumped billions into enriching shareholders through stock buybacks — with nearly half spent by UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of CEO Brian Thompson’s UnitedHealthcare.
Since 2010, 44 percent of buyback expenditures from major health insurers came from UnitedHealth Group. (Piotr Swat / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images)
As rising health care costs and inadequate insurance coverage leave one in three Americans saddled with medical debt, the nation’s top health insurers have dumped billions into enriching their executives and top shareholders through lucrative stock buybacks.
All in all, the country’s largest health insurers have invested over $120 billion into repurchasing their own shares since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. These include UnitedHealth Group; Cigna; Elevance Health, the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield; and CVS Health, which acquired Aetna in 2018.
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