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The article:

Health care group exaggerates CEO pay

By Louis Jacobson
Published on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 7:02 p.m.

Related rulings:

Mostly False
Health insurance companies pay CEOs $24 million a year

Health Care for America Now, Tuesday, September 15th, 2009.

Ruling: Mostly False | Details

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The ad from Health Care for America Now says insurance CEOs make $24 million a year and that insurers deny 1 in 5 treatments prescribed by doctors.

Supporters of health care reform have portrayed insurance company CEOs as overpaid villains. In a recent television ad, Health Care for America Now, a group supporting the Democrats' health care reform bill, takes direct aim at the CEOs.

The group's ad mockingly explains "how to get rich" by showing a "book" written "by America's health insurance companies." Chapter 2 reads, "Pay your CEO $24,000,000 a year." A news release issued by HCAN attributed the assertion to the entry for Ronald A. Williams, CEO of insurance giant Aetna, in the 2008 Forbes magazine executive compensation survey.

We found the ad was cherry-picking the highest number and rated it Barely True .

 

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Researchers: Louis Jacobson

Names in this article: Health Care for America Now

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