Blue Cross Executive Gets $16.4-Million in Retirement Benefits

November 16, 2007

Blue Cross Executive Gets $16.4-Million in Retirement Benefits

William C. Van Faasen, the former chief executive of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state’s largest health insurer, retired from the company in January 2006 and was paid $16.4-million in retirement benefits, reports The Boston Globe.

Since Blue Cross’s 2006 executive pay was disclosed yesterday in filings to the attorney general, several groups have expressed outrage at a compensation package of that size being awarded at a nonprofit organization.

Jerry Flanagan, healthcare-policy director for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a nonprofit, nonpartisan consumer group in Los Angeles, said that this type of excessive compensation harms the public by driving up costs. He explained, “Double-digit premium increases that are fueled by insurance-company excesses like this are uninsuring the insured.”

Chris Murphy, a spokesman for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, said Mr. Van Faasen’s retirement contributions are an accurate reflection of his lengthy tenure and his “extraordinary performance as chief executive of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.”

Mr. Murphy added that the retirement package was evaluated by external compensation consultants, who assured the company that the payments “met industry standards.”

State Senator Mark C. Montigny, Democrat of New Bedford, however, was not satisfied with this justification. He said, “Bill Van Faasen is a good guy and he’s done a great job, but if he wants that kind of money, he should run a hedge fund.”

(Free registration is required to view this article.)

Comments

This is certainly what drives up cost. If he have any compassion he would feed a homeless center for a year.

— Boyce Pearson Nov 17, 12:43 PM #

Commenting is closed for this article.

Previous: Give and Take, a Roundup of Nonprofit Blogs
Next: Smithsonian Global-Warming Exhibit Got Caught in Political Snags, Scientists Say