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Blue Cross – Rolling in the Money

Post on March 7, 2008 by 20 Comments »

After commenting earlier this week on Blue Cross’s outsized executive compensation I obtained the official filing detailing what the executives make, who is on the board, and how much they are paid.  Take a look!   You can find the answers to fun questions like:

  • Are many Blue Cross nonprofit board members really paid nearly as much (or more) for attending a few meetings than ordinary North Carolinians’ median annual income?

  • Blue Cross didn’t really raise my rates through the roof and then give a $400,000 bonus to their vice president of human resources did they?

  • Such a big conflict of interest would never happen where the CEO of the biggest public hospital system in the state who negotiates with Blue regularly on what rates will be paid for health services would be chairman of Blue’s board and get $47,051 in annual compensation for that service.  Would it?

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Comments (Closed):20

  1. James
    March 7, 2008 at 2:42 pm

    Holy shit.

  2. Rob Schofield
    March 7, 2008 at 3:24 pm

    Indeed.

  3. John
    March 7, 2008 at 3:41 pm

    I’m not surprised. (and please no curse words) If this were a lot less money, then I would be surpised. In 2006 BCBSNC revenues were about $4 billion. The CEO made 0.000782 of revenues. Everyone listed (excluding the Board) on that linked report made 0.002670 of revenues in 2006. Adam, can you tell us how does this compare to other $4 billion companies? Thanks

  4. Cathy Howell
    March 7, 2008 at 4:24 pm

    How many folks could we give healthcare to if they only made a million $ a year……?

  5. Adam Searing
    March 7, 2008 at 5:27 pm

    Well, calling NC Blue a $4 billion company is a stretch. They are a nonprofit, they don’t produce anything, they don’t heal the sick, and they just operate exclusively right here in North Carolina. By that reckoning, NC Medicaid is a $8 billion corporation and the head of that agency should be paid a heck of a lot more than the $100 k or so I think they make right now.

    But, if you insist on a fair comparison there are examples. Bill Roper, CEO of UNC Hospitals, just got a big raise and makes about $700,000. Lots of people think he is overpaid. See:

    http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triad/stories/2007/09/10/daily3.html

    UNCH employs more folks than BCBS, delivers critical healthcare to thousands, conducts lifesaving research, and trains doctors and other health professionals for tomorrow.

    Too bad BCBS execs at their nonprofit can’t deliver that much value for their even more princely compensation.

  6. John
    March 7, 2008 at 6:09 pm

    Adam, thanks for commenting. If I may counter…Roy Williams makes a lot more than Bill Roper, so lets reduce Roy’s ridiculously high salary. Would you please make appropriate salary decisions on many people’s salaries and compare their “real” contribution to society. like Coach K, professional athletes, Hollywood entertainers, Bill Gates, JK Rowling, Oprah Winfrey… What do you propose? Taking their money away from them and put into a mega fund run by nice people like you.

    Back to Health Insurance: I guess CIGNA, Aetna and US HealthCare etc and all insurance businesses “don’t produce anything” either. and they all have over paid execs too, yes?

    And if health insurance is a business that doesn’t produce anything, then why is it so important to Hillary and Barack (and you Adam – you would love for everyone to have health insurance)?

    It might be interesting to pay top Medicaid execs more money – it might operate better. Or better yet, have Medicaid – an insurance business – run as a private business, contracted out by the State for competitive bid. Why is the government providing a business service when the private sector could do it. I know that would be radical. The recent Mental Health disaster is not so much because of commercial greed but more due to incompetent government oversight and administration.

    Thanks for the comments and debate on your website.

  7. James
    March 7, 2008 at 7:01 pm

    John,

    I don’t think this is true.

    The recent Mental Health disaster is not so much because of commercial greed but more due to incompetent government oversight and administration.

    This was a double barreled disaster in every sense of the word.

  8. gregflynn
    March 7, 2008 at 9:10 pm

    Health care is not a product. Insurance companies make more money when they provide less health care and they reward their executives for not providing it..

  9. John
    March 8, 2008 at 7:39 am

    James – maybe so, but I would still blame the government first and more so for the mental health mess.
    gregflynn, I guess I can’t grasp that “health care is not a product”. You’re right about insurance companies’ motivations, but it’s not a bad thing. We all, or someone close to us, have experienced health traumas. In 2006 I had a health trauma and amassed bills from hospitals, physicians, and other providers totalling about $80,000. BCBSNC paid the health providers about $40,000. And I paid about $4,000 in deductibles, coinsurance and copays. I was very satisfied with the health care products and services I received, AND the insurance that covered it all. BCBSNC kept price pressure on health providers from charging double. Health providers are greedy too. And gee-whiz, we all (well most of us) want to make more money than we make today. In any case, I wish you all and your loved ones the best of health!

  10. James
    March 8, 2008 at 7:56 pm

    I would too, John. I would blame them for knee-jerk privatization. And for being cowards on taxes.

  11. Dallas Woodhouse
    March 9, 2008 at 2:41 pm

    Cowards of taxes, they just raised the sales tax. We have higher income tax rates than other states that surround us. How much should they take.? Some form of taxes already take 50% of what we earn. How much do you want to let them have 65% 85% When will it be enough?

    We pay far too much in taxes already

  12. gregflynn
    March 9, 2008 at 3:14 pm

    They who? Six counties raised sales tax 0.25%. That’s it. A 0.25% State sales tax due to expire was extended permanently. It was not raised. They actually lowered the top marginal income tax rate. If you got some facts, stick ‘em up. I just took a look outside; the sky is not falling.

  13. Dallas Woodhouse
    March 10, 2008 at 9:20 am

    You still did not answer the questions. How much is too much?

  14. Dallas Woodhouse
    March 10, 2008 at 9:20 am

    and they did raise the sales tax. The tax was suppose to sunset July 1 2007 and the law was changed so it did not. That is a raise in taxes.

  15. gregflynn
    March 10, 2008 at 6:00 pm

    Rhetorical questions deserve no more than rhetorical answers, don’t you think ØŸ

  16. kelly
    March 11, 2008 at 9:33 am

    My family lived in Eastern Europe in houses with dirt floors and slept in the fields to keep anyone from stelaing their crops. My parents, siblings and I all went to college. Some of got professional degrees. My kids went to Ivy League colleges. We live well in Raleigh.

    I am MORE than willing to pay more in taxes. It is my responsibility- ever major religion says we have a responsibilty to help those with less than ourselves.

  17. earl
    March 11, 2008 at 1:53 pm

    Kelly,
    I also pay my taxes, and I agree completely that every major religion says we have a responsibility to help others – not only those with less than ourselves, but anyone who needs it.
    However, the problem is more often with how our tax dollars are administered and used.
    I help people on an individual basis all the time, and I help people find help when they need it, including tax-based programs when available. I have worked in and visited many countries and I am very glad and blessed to be here in the US. We have problems, yes, but we also have, I believe, more opportunity than any where else in the world.

  18. John
    March 12, 2008 at 9:22 am

    Kelly, yes we all like to help those who need it (religious or not). And congratulations on making a better life for yourself. Voting for government representatives who love to forcibly take more money from us and redistribute our money for social programs with more politics and government incomptence is not the way. Just because you are more willing to pay more taxes, please don’t force me to do the same against my will – thank you very much. For social programs and solutions, more government leads to lousier politics and more incompetent results. Most of us would donate a lot more money if we had more money to give. The people can decide whether we save our money, spend it or donate it. If we had more money to give to private causes of our own choice, the collective social results, I believe, would be outstanding. And it would result in more efficiency, sensitivity, and responsiveness, without the governemnt incompetence and politics. Keep government out of our wallets as much as possible. Let us be free to do great things. Thanks.

  19. Adam Searing
    March 12, 2008 at 9:37 am

    Yeah, wouldn’t want government to do all those terrible things with our tax money like K-12 education, UNC system, roads across the state, libraries, police, fire fighters, sewer systems, parks, museums, sidewalks, greenways, criminal justice, legal system so businesses can operate, hospitals, nursing homes, etc, etc.

    Got to keep govt out of our wallets!

  20. john
    March 13, 2008 at 8:46 pm

    Adam, I was exterme in my choice of words and stand corrected: I amend it to – “minimize” government in our wallets. The political and gray lines (liberal vs conservative) are drawn over definitions of essential govt and non-essential (or going too far) govt services and spending. Many of those items that you list are certainly essential while many others are examples of govt reaching too far (e.g education, UNC, museums, hospitals and nursing homes…). Private for-profit or not-for-profit organizations can do it better, and private sector financing should be encouraged as much as possible. Govt can help pay some of the bills for the poor, provide appropriate incentives, regulate for safety and watch over rip off artists, etc, but govt should not own and operate many of these things, in some cases monopolistically.