Just in case you thought I’d cooled down from my rant about UnitedHealthcare, don’t think for a second I’m letting them off the hook. After reading some N&O letters to the editor on the topic, I discovered that WIlliam McGuire, United Healthcare’s recently-departed CEO, pocketed $124,000,000 in compensation last year. Now that McGuire lost his job he is broke and penniless. He was last seen rummaging through garbage cans.

Ha ha! Just kidding! Actually, he left with one of the largest ‘golden parachutes’ in corporate history: $5 million a year for life and an eye-popping $1 billion plus in stock.

This is the kind of shit I’m talking about when I talk about the healthcare industry. It is an industry, and you and I are being taken for a ride. There is an ungodly amount of greed involved. Sickening, actually (no pun intended). America could do so much better if it made affordable health care the right of every citizen. Even our screwed-up government would have a hard time squandering this kind of money.