Pay Freeze

Responding to criticism that health reform will help those "greedy" insurers profit, Senate Democrats are encouraging companies to cap pay for top execs.

The Senate Finance Committee approved a measure Thursday that limits companies' tax deductions on pay for insurance executives to $500,000, the Wall Street Journal reports. It only applies to companies that would benefit from mandates that all Americans buy health insurance, a component of the health reform bill. That includes big insurers like Aetna Inc. and Wellpoint Inc. Execs at those companies make well over a half-million a year.

It's not surprising that the politicians would try to hit the company guys in the pocketbook. After fending off attacks from the right over health reform, Democrats are now being criticized from liberals who say the Senate reform plan helps insurers more than the tens of millions of Americans who have no health coverage.

House Democrats are expected to take their shots at insurance execs too. In August, Representatives Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak sent letters to CEOs of more than 50 of the nation's biggest health insurers asking for five years of financial information for officers making more than $500,000 a year.

One big salary number that gets tossed around as an example of insurers' largess is the $24 million compensation package for Aetna CEO Ronald Williams last year. Williams led the group of top insurance executives for pay in 2008. Cigna Corp. CEO H. Edward Hanway made $12.2 million, and Wellpoint chief Angela Braly earned $9.8 million.