UnitedHealth Group experienced one of its best years financially in 2011, and its executives were handsomely rewarded as a result. According to a proxy statement filed by the insurer late last month, its top six executives received double-digit percentage increases in total compensation compared with 2010.

Gail Boudreaux, CEO of the UnitedHealthcare division, saw the biggest percentage increase at 71.4%. Her total compensation — which includes salary, bonuses, stock and options awards, and non-equity incentives — was $10,925,315 in 2011, up from $6,373,746 the prior year. Larry Renfro, who heads UnitedHealth’s Optum subsidiary, saw his compensation rise 67.4% percent to $10,603,187 (see table, below).

By comparison, UnitedHealth President and CEO Stephen Hemsley had just a 23.9% increase in compensation to $13,394,832. That puts Hemsley in the No. 3 position among publicly traded health insurer CEOs, just behind WellPoint, Inc. chief Angela Braly, who holds the No. 2 spot with $13,258,142 (HPW 4/16/12, p. 1), and Cigna Corp. CEO David Cordani, whose compensation topped out at $19,085,567.

For the most part, the huge compensation increases were the result of increases in stock awards as well as non-executive compensation. For example, Boudreaux, who was the second-highest compensated executive at the company in 2011, saw her stock awards go from $3,000,063 in 2010 to $7,000,070 in 2011. Her non-equity incentive plan compensation nearly doubled from $1.4 million to $2,794,200. Both Renfro and George L. Mikan III, UnitedHealth’s former chief financial officer until becoming CEO of health services last year, received the same amount of stock awards as Boudreaux.

Executive compensation among health plan executives has become a hot topic of late. For example, shareholder group CtW Investment Group wrote to Cigna investors in advance of the insurer’s April 25 annual meeting asking shareholders to reject the advisory vote on Cordani’s compensation package (HPW 4/16/12, p. 1).

Visit www.unitedhealthgroup.com.

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Compensation Details for Top UnitedHealth Group Executives, 2009-2011

To judge from CEO compensation, which remains at healthy levels, publicly traded health insurers have not been cowed by the “say on pay” provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Join the conversation at the AIS Blogs.