20 Aug, 2025
UnitedHealth's former chief tops US managed care CEO pay list in 2024
By Tyler Hammel and Jason Woleben
Former UnitedHealth Group Inc. CEO Andrew Witty received an 11.9% pay bump to stay on top of the list of the highest-paid CEOs among US-listed health insurers in 2024, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis.
Witty, who was also the most compensated CEO of a managed care company in 2023, received $26.3 million in total compensation in 2024, the bulk of which came from $17.3 million in stock grants. The remainder comprised $1.8 million in cash, $5.8 million in options granted and $1.5 million from a nonequity incentive compensation plan.
Named chief executive in 2021, Witty made 348x the median salary of a UnitedHealth employee in 2024. His compensation growth year over year was the most of any managed care CEO.
Witty will not appear on the list for 2025 as he resigned from his post in May, citing "personal reasons." Witty was replaced by Stephen Hemsley, who was UnitedHealth's CEO from 2006 to 2017. Witty's departure came soon after UnitedHealth reported dour first-quarter earnings and lowered its 2025 earnings outlook.
The health insurer has had a difficult year as it wrestles with elevated Medicare costs, higher usage, a probe by the US Justice Department and the aftermath of the murder of a senior executive. UnitedHealth received a bit of a shot in the arm recently after Berkshire Hathaway took a $1.57 billion stake in the company.
The managed care giant did not respond to a request for comment regarding Witty's compensation.
Next in line
The second-highest paid health insurance CEO for 2024 was The Cigna Group's David Cordani, who received total compensation of $23.2 million, 279x that of the median Cigna employee salary.
Most of Cordani's compensation came from stock grants, though he also received $1.9 million in cash compensation, $3.3 million in options and $2.7 million in nonequity incentive compensation.
Cordani's total compensation rose 10.7% year over year, the third-largest rise among the six highest-paid US managed care CEOs.
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Molina Healthcare Inc.'s Joseph Zubretsky was the third-highest-paid managed care CEO, with total compensation of $21.9 million.
Continuing the trend, the majority of Zubretsky's compensation came from stock grants, totaling $16.2 million. Zubretsky also received $2.4 million in cash compensation and $3.4 million in nonequity incentive compensation.
After topping the 2022 compensation chart, Zubretsky's pay declined in 2023 but rose 2.1% in 2024. His total compensation was 268x the median salary of a Molina employee.
Centene Corp. CEO Sarah London's compensation rose 11% to $20.6 million, the second-largest jump in compensation year over year. This sum was 224x greater than the median salary of a Centene employee.
London received $1.7 million in cash compensation, $14.6 million in stock grants and $4.3 million in non-equity incentive compensation.
Just behind London was Elevance Health Inc. CEO Gail Boudreaux, who made $20.5 million in 2024, 370x more than the median salary of an Elevance employee, the greatest disparity in this analysis. Boudreaux was also the only CEO among the six to see a decline year over year in compensation, which dropped 6.5% from 2023.
James Rechtin, who succeeded Bruce Broussard in July 2024 as CEO of Humana Inc., received the smallest compensation among the six, likely due to his shorter term. Rechtin earned $15.6 million in total compensation, which was still 195x the median full-year salary of a Humana employee.