Gotta keep the elite happy.
"Blue Cross to pay board again, though at reduced level" by Robert Weisman | Globe Staff, March 01, 2013
Two years after bowing to its critics and suspending five-figure annual pay for directors, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is reinstating the compensation — though at reduced levels and to fewer board members.
The state’s largest health insurance carrier will pay part-time board members who chair committees a maximum of $54,500. That is down from $78,600 before the public outcry over how much directors were paid at nonprofit insurers regulated as public charities....
It's got to be the culture.
Despite the reductions, Blue Cross board members will remain among the best compensated directors at any nonprofit health plan in the state.
Blue Cross board members attend up to five full board meetings a year, a strategic planning session, and about eight committee meetings, executives said....
That's what, once-a-month meetings, probably for a couple of hours?
Among the new directors are a Bain & Co. health care consultant, a senior executive at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and a health care delivery specialist at Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania. Board members who have left include prominent business leaders and the former president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO....
In March 2011, the Blue Cross board voted to temporarily end annual compensation for directors. It took the action after public criticism of large payments to part-time board members and after the disclosure the board had voted to give departing chief executive Cleve L. Killingsworth about $11 million in salary, retirement, and severance pay....
And now, when they think no one is looking....
Related: The Eight-Million Dollar Escape
Also see: Getting Your Buck-Fifty Out of Blue Cross
Deirdre Cummings, legislative director for the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, said nonprofit insurers should not be giving large payouts to part-time directors when the state’s health care costs are among the nation’s highest. She noted the rate of premium increases slowed when Blue Cross Blue Shield suspended its fees.
Related:
"Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts recorded net income of $163.9 million for the 12 months ending Dec. 31"
I thought it was a nonprofit?
You know, now I know why I $ee so many nonprofits in my corporate new$paper.
“One would question why they were able to run their business for the last few years without paying people and why they have decided they have to start doing it again now,” Cummings said. “Paying these directors what would be equivalent to a full-time salary for many in this state just for attending a handful of meetings every year seems excessive.”
Hey, look, the elite have to have some way of spreading around all the cash in which they are wallowing.
What do you want them to do, give us good, decent health care or sumpin'?
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The new payment structure includes an annual cash retainer of $30,000, down from $40,000, and a $1,000 stipend for attending each committee meeting, a decrease of $200.
I've never even made $30k in a given year, and it's looking like I never will.
Other payouts remain unchanged, including a $7,500 retainer for committee chairs and $1,500 for attending each board meeting and the strategic planning session.
They give you $1500 bucks just for showing up, huh?
In addition, board members are eligible to buy the same health and dental insurance as Blue Cross employees.
What, doesn't come with the position?
Six are doing so. The insurer also pays for travel to and from Boston for its one out-of-state member....
What is that doing for the global warming problem?
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Also see: This board knows best
