Business Week reports his annual salary as $1,300,000.[4] Forbes Magazine ranks him at 296th in its 2009 Special Report on CEO Compensation.[5] His compensation was estimated at $3,241,042 by the FierceHealthcare newsletter.[6] According to bizjournals.com the country's highest-paid From wikipedia, "CEO, Stephen Hemsley, made $101.96 million in 2010.[7] In 2011 he was named the highest paid CEO by Forbes following a large gain in the value of his stock ownership. [8] In late 2011, Hemsley's most recent annual compensation was estimated by Forbes at $48.8 million."

I'm not defending high CEO salaries, but salaries and compensation are different numbers. Even CEOs that take $1 salary a year, cash in stock options for millions if the corporation does well or improves.

Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. H. L. Mencken