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February 20, 2021 / 2021 Power 50

2021 Power 50: 17. David Cordani

HBJ FILE PHOTO Cigna CEO David M. Cordani
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David Cordani leads one of the country’s largest health plans, Bloomfield-based Cigna Corp., and he’s an outspoken proponent of private insurance being the best way to make affordable healthcare coverage more widely available in the U.S.

He’s also not been shy about weighing in on healthcare reform efforts at the state and national levels, making him a clear leader for the broader industry.

In an interview with Fox News Digital about a year ago he said adopting a “one-size-fits-all financing program like ‘Medicare-for-all’ ” isn’t the solution to making health insurance universally available. Cordani also met face to face with President Barack Obama about a decade ago to discuss public health insurance exchanges during the debate over the Affordable Care Act.

In Connecticut, when state lawmakers were considering adopting a public health insurance plan in 2019, Cordani reportedly threatened to uproot his Bloomfield-based health insurer and relocate it elsewhere.

The legislation died that same day.

Cigna denied any threat was made, but the episode still underscored the power health insurers have in Connecticut, where they are one of the region’s largest employers. Cordani oversees about 4,500 employees in Connecticut and despite that reported flare up, his company has reaffirmed its commitment to Bloomfield by engaging in a multimillion-dollar campus renovation.

Connecticut Democratic lawmakers are proposing a similar public insurance option this year so it will be interesting to see what role Cordani and his fellow health insurance execs play in that debate.

At the end of 2020 Cordani oversaw a major $6.3 billion deal — the sale of Cigna’s group life and disability insurance unit to New York Life Insurance, which allows the health insurer to focus more on its healthcare businesses.

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