The top California insurance regulator already is attacking one element of efforts by UnitedHealth Group Inc. to scoop up PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.[@@]
California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, who has been notoriously tough on past managed care deals, is criticizing a deal provision that would create a $300 million executive compensation package for PacifiCare executives.
The package is "unconscionable," Garamendi says in a statement issued Tuesday. "It exemplifies the problem in a health care system where fewer and fewer people can afford to participate."
Despite the harsh words about the proposed executive compensation package, Garamendi says he is "encouraged, but not yet convinced" of the merits of the proposed deal.
UnitedHealth, Minnetonka, Minn., announced in July that it wants to acquire PacifiCare, Cypress, Calif., by paying PacifiCare shareholders about $8.1 billion in cash and stock.
