The CEOs of 70 of the largest U.S. health care companies cumulatively have earned $9.8 billion in the seven years since the Affordable Care Act was passed, and their earnings have grown faster than most Americans' during that time, according to an Axios analysis of federal financial documents.

Why it matters: The ACA has not hurt the health care industry. Stock prices have boomed, and CEOs took home nearly 11% more money on average every year since 2010 — far outstripping the wage growth of nearly all Americans. But the analysis also reveals that the pay packages for the country's influential health care executives don't give them incentives to control health care spending — something that economists, policymakers and even Warren Buffett have said is the most pressing problem in health care.

Expand chart Data: Analysis of company filings; Chart: Lazaro Gamio, Naema Ahmed / Axios

What we found: Total earnings amount to an average of $20 million (median of $11 million) per CEO per year. A vast majority of pay came in the form of vested stock.

The largest haul: John Martin, former CEO of the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, made $863 million in the ACA era — the most of any health care CEO.

The big takeaway: Health care inflation continues to blow away general economic inflation, and a big reason why is because health care executives are not paid to slow spending.

What the analysis covers: The total CEO compensation (salary, bonuses, stock, perks and retirement/severance when relevant) each year since 2010, when the ACA went into effect, based on company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

These 70 corporations were chosen because they are based in the United States and are among the largest publicly traded health care companies, together encompassing more than $2 trillion of annual revenue. It did not include the generous pay packages of not-for-profit hospital CEOs.

Our unique tabulation: We calculated the actual realized gains of CEOs' stock options and awards (money that they had to pay taxes on), not the estimated fair value of their stock shown in the federal filings' summary compensation tables.

The estimated value of stock is misleading and does not accurately depict how much a person made in a given year.

Actual realized gains show that CEOs are making a lot more than headlines suggest.

William Lazonick, an economist at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and Matthew Hopkins, a senior researcher at the nonprofit Academic-Industry Research Network, reviewed the analysis for accuracy. They have written extensively about corporate executive compensation and why actual realized stock gains matter.

"What is the relationship between their high pay and the role of stock prices in their high pay and the problems of the health care system?" Lazonick said. "There is a very close relationship, but it's not apparent to most people."

The stock story: A gigantic portion of what CEOs make comes in the form of vested stock, and those incentives drive their decision-making. The analysis shows that since the ACA was passed, health care executives routinely took measures to inflate stock prices — such as repurchasing shares or issuing dividends to shareholders — that led to higher take-home pay.

Stock-heavy pay also drives CEOs to do the exact opposite of their buzzword-laden goals of creating a "patient-centered" health system that focuses on "value."

Actions that would benefit the broader health care system:

Lower prices

Eliminate unnecessary procedures, tests or devices

Coordinate care

Instead, CEOs often focus on what benefits the stock price:

Sell more prescription drugs

Perform more procedures and tests

Create new medical therapies that may not add value to someone's life

Raise prices above inflation

Do anything to create higher earnings per share

Here are the other main takeaways from the analysis: