By Todd A. Prussman
Friday, March 4, 2011
Cleve Killingsworth, the former CEO of the non-profit health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield takes an $11 million severance package with him out the door.
How does that advance the cause of health care?
Predictably, politicians decried the payout; paid members of the Blue Cross Blue Shield board, which negotiated the 2005 contract that contained the golden parachute, greeted the news with a din of silence.
Think back to 2005. Governor Mitt Romney and the state legislature were at work on a bill that would require every resident of the state to buy health insurance. The Romney model of health care reform would be adopted and expanded upon by President Barack Obama.
Romneycare became Obamacare and now laws are now in place in Massachusetts and federally that require all citizens to buy health insurance.
Is it any surprise that health care CEO’s are packing their suit cases with money? Should we expect anything else?
Health insurance premiums, paid by individuals, companies, cities and towns have been climbing year-over-year by 5-10 percent and more for over a decade. Are you a business owner? How have the rates you charge your customers changed?
Now that buying health insurance is the law, should corporate compensation change in the health insurance industry?
What do you think of Killingsworth’s $11M severance?
We want to know what you think.
The Friday Throwdown happens 12-1 on bostonherald.com.
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