The Boston Globe reports:
The chief executive of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state’s largest private health insurer, abruptly resigned yesterday, just weeks after he was replaced as chairman of the board.
Cleve L. Killingsworth, 57, who helped lead Blue Cross for six years, departed shortly after the company posted a towering $149 million loss and reported it lost 89,000 subscribers last year.
The "progressive" Mass. health insurance experiment has problems:
Blue Cross has struggled with skyrocketing bills from health care providers. It signed expensive contracts with Partners HealthCare, the giant hospital system that includes Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. And it has offered physician groups and hospitals sky-high reimbursement rates to persuade them to sign up for a new type of health care plan, which pays them a set amount per patient, rather than a la carte prices for each doctor’s visit and service performed. That model could help dissuade doctors from ordering extra tests and unnecessary treatment — and ultimately rein in costs — but it appears to be driving up Blue Cross’s costs in the short term, health care analysts said.
Blue Cross, like other insurers, has tried to pass on rising costs to subscribers. The company recently proposed rate increases ranging from 10 to 19 percent for small businesses, effective April 1. But Governor Deval Patrick recently ordered state insurance regulators to review double-digit premium increases from Blue Cross and other insurers. The state is expected to make a decision this month.
The struggles of government mandated health care. No word yet , on this one, from those who claim health insurance is such a profitable business.
