Cap executive pay to put patients first
It’s time to stop out-of-control executive pay in healthcare. With the federal government slashing billions from healthcare funding, we need hospital revenues to go to patient care, not excessive executive pay.
The Problem
Excessive Healthcare CEO pay
Too many of California’s hospitals are paying millions to company executives instead of spending it on patient care. At the same time, medical costs are soaring, healthcare workers are struggling with low pay and poor working conditions, and patients are facing longer waits and lower-quality care. The millions paid to executives should be invested in high quality care and expanding access to care.
High healthcare costs are getting even worse
Healthcare costs are soaring across California. Patients are paying more for insurance, rationing medication, and finding ways to stretch every dollar. To make it worse, Congress passed massive cuts to healthcare funding that will hit California hospitals hard and raise costs even higher, making it critical to ensure hospitals are directing their funds to patient care instead of executive pay and other non-essentials.
The Solution
Cap out-of-control healthcare executive compensation, so more dollars can go to patient care.
The Healthcare Executive Compensation Act will cap healthcare executive compensation to $450,000 per year. It’s time for California hospitals to get their priorities straight by ending excessive executive pay and redirecting revenues to patients and the staff who provide patient care.
Frequently Asked Questions
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The proposed measure would cap total annual compensation for executives, administrators, and managers at nonprofit and for-profit hospitals and medical groups at $450,000 per year, adjusted annually based on changes to the cost of living.
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Too many of California’s hospitals are paying extravagant amounts of money — up to millions of dollars a year — to company executives.
CEO of Dignity Health: $15.4 million
CEO of Kaiser Permanente: $12.9 million
CEO of Cedars-Sinai: $8.8 million
CEO of Sutter Health: $11.9 million
At the same time, medical costs are soaring, healthcare workers are struggling with low pay and poor working conditions, and patients are facing longer waits and lower quality care.
Excessive compensation diverts funds that could be invested in providing high-quality care and expanding access to affordable medical care for all Californians.
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We will submit signatures in April to put this initiative on the November 3rd ballot so that voters can have the chance to decide whether to put patient care over executive pay.
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Even before the pandemic, California faced a shortage of 500,000 healthcare workers needed to care for our aging population. Now, massive cuts to federal healthcare funding are going to make the problem even worse and will lead to cuts in staffing and services. More than ever we need to ensure that hospitals are directing their funds to patient care and the caregivers who provide that care, not to bloated executive pay.
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Total annual compensation for hospital executives would be limited to $450,000 per year, which is the approximate amount that the President of the United States is paid (not including the many perks of the office). Studies have shown that high compensation levels for healthcare executives have not resulted in better patient care or higher levels of charity care.
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Total annual compensation as defined in the initiative includes all wages, salary, paid time off, bonuses, incentive payments, lump-sum cash payments, the cash value of stock options, and more. There are limited exclusions; for example, it does not include the cost of health insurance or disability insurance.
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This initiative is brought to you by the frontline healthcare workers of SEIU-UHW. Every day, we go into work and see firsthand how our healthcare system is failing patients. That’s why we’re pushing for change.
