Democrats in Congress have asked the nation’s biggest health insurers to provide data on executive compensation and bonus, profit margins, corporate retreats and spending and premium charges as part of its investigation of the private health insurance industry.

The inquiry is in an effort to change the debate to focus on health insurers rather than focusing on the solutions to health care concerns. There was also dispute over the creation of a government-run health system along private insurers. The Democrats are trying to examine whether business practices of the industry oppose Obama’s proposal for a public health insurance plan.

The US House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Henry Waxman sent letters to 52 insurance companies on Monday, asking them to provide details on CEO pay, profit and other data by next month. These include American International Group Inc. (AIG), Hartford Financial Services (HIG), Aetna Inc. (AET), Aflac Inc. (AFL), Humana Inc. (HUM) and Cigna Corp. (CI).

Banks and Wall Street investment firms have also faced criticism over executive pay and bonuses and corporate spending in the light of government bailouts. Even though some large financial firms have redeemed warrants issued under Troubled Asset Relief Program, most of them still have short-term debt guaranteed by the government. Thus, Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS) and JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) were targeted by various political and media groups.

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