Protesters crashed Aetna Inc.’s annual shareholders meeting in Philadelphia on Friday morning, accusing the Hartford health insurer of publicly supporting President Obama’s health-care plan while privately funneling money to its opponents — in particular, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Aetna chairman Mark T. Bertolini had just gone to the microphone at Le Meredien Philadelphia, a Center City hotel, when the protesters walked into the meeting, chanting and carrying signs, the paper said on its Web site, philly.com.
Hotel security and police hurried the group of about 20 out, detaining three of them for 30 minutes. No arrests were made, said one of the organizers of the protest.
Three different Aetna spokesmen declined to comment immediately on whether Aetna actually had funneled money to the Chamber, as the protesters said, the paper reported.
At the meeting in separate non-binding advisory votes, shareholders approved the compensation paid to Aetna’s named executive officers for 2010 and resolved that shareholders should have an advisory vote each year on executive pay.
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