Let's start the day with some numbers:

In 2008, Aetna made $1.384 billion.
Aetna's CEO Ronald A. Williams made $3.14 million dollars in 2008.
He was also awarded stock worth another $10 million
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 46 million Americans, or 18percent of the population under the age of 65, were without healthinsurance in 2007.
The Urban Institute estimates that under a worse case scenario, 66 million Americans will be uninsured by 2019.
The large majority of the uninsured (85 percent) are native or naturalized citizens.
Nearly 1.3 million full-time workers lost their health insurance in 2006
Health insurance premiums have increased 119 percent for employerssince 1999 and employee spending for health insurance coverage(employee’s share of family coverage) has increased 117 percent between1999 and 2008.


How many American's insurance premiums would Mr. Williams's salary cover? NCHC states that the average American's health insurance costs for a family of four are $13,000.

That means Mr. Williams salary would complete cover 241 Americans.  That's not many.  But if Aetna was a nonprofit, that $1.384 billion would have completely covered insurance costs for another 106,461 Americans.  That's still not enough, especially with the current recession and expected jump in health care costs.  But if Aetna's profit had been used to reduce premiums for those already with insurance, then a $3,000 subsidy could have been applied to 461,333 American families, which would bring their insurance costs down to $10,000.  So once again, I must ask why insurance companies are allowed to make a profit?  Who does this profit besides Mr. Williams and his executive team?