Bank Robbery

Who was Willie Sutton? Many of our younger citizens may have never heard his name. People of my generation may remember him as one of the 20th century’s most infamous bank robbers.

In addition to his bank theft record, Willie is also remembered for a famous quote that is usually attributed to him. Supposedly, when he was asked WHY he robbed banks, Willie quipped "because that's where the money is."

Willie was a somewhat simple man, but he knew how to succinctly answer a question.

Here’s another interesting fact – did you know that Aetna, one of the largest health insurance companies in the US, started life as a Life Insurance company way back in 1850? In fact, Aetna remained a one of the major life insurance carriers for almost 150 years – quite a feat for any business,. Then, starting in 1996, Aetna started to acquire health care insurance companies, rapidly building this business. By 1999, after acquiring Prudential HealthCare for $1 billion, Aetna became the largest provider of health insurance in the U.S., with more than 21 million members. In 2000, Aetna sold its core financial services and international businesses to ING for $7.7 billion, ending an era that lasted over 150 years.

Another major health insurance company, CIGNA, has even a longer history then Aetna does. Founded way back in 1792, CIGNA started offering health insurance in the early 20th century. In the year 2000, when CIGNA sold off the last of its traditional businesses, it became solely a provider of health insurance benefits.

This begs the question “Why did Aetna and CIGNA abandon their core businesses, ones that thrived for hundreds of years, to become solely purveyors of Health Insurance?



Before you answer, here are some more interesting factoids: In 2006, when Aetna CEO and executive chairman John Rowe ended his 65 month reign, it was calculated that he was paid an estimated $225,000 A DAY for his tenure. And, FYI, this daily rate was calculated at 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

CIGNA’s CEO at the time, H. Edward Hanway, did not fare nearly as well as Mr. Rowe. According to Forbes magazine, poor Mr. Rowe pulled in just under 29 million in 2005. (I wonder how did he manage to make ends meet?)


OK, so back to my original question – why did Aetna and Cigna make the switch from life insurance to health insurance?




Too bad Willie Sutton passed away in back in 1980 – I bet ‘ole Willie could give us a very succinct answer to this question as well!

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