Retreats, Million-Dollar Salaries Paid For As Anthem Blue Cross Sought Rate Hike

Sacramento Bee ^ | February 24, 2010 | Rob Hotakainen

[Steelfish]

Retreats, Million-Dollar Salaries Paid For As Anthem Blue Cross Sought Rate Hike

Rob Hotakainen

WASHINGTON - While Anthem Blue Cross proposed a 39 percent rate increase on thousands of its California customers, its parent company paid 39 of its executives more than $1 million each and spent more than $27 million on 103 lavish executive retreats, congressional investigators say.

"One question we asked is where does all of this money go?" Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman of Los Angeles said at a House subcommittee hearing today. "Corporate executives at WellPoint are thriving, while its policyholders are paying the price."

In response to the company's proposed rate hike, Congress is weighing a new plan that would create a new federal agency to oversee proposed rate hikes.

Critics say the federal government has no business setting prices in the private sector, though proponents say it's the only way to rein in greedy companies that increasingly are taking advantage of consumers.

The new rate authority board is the brainchild of California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who called Anthem's proposed rate hike "unconscionable."

Her idea won a key endorsement on Monday from President Barack Obama, who wants it included in any new health-care bill that Congress considers this year.

[Nachum]

Government control of their salaries. We all knew this was coming.

[JoanneSD]

Sounds like the junkets that congress took to copenhagen...on our dime....

[HiTech RedNeck]

“Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die”

[Republic]

Did the same congressional investigators talk about the salary increase the congress voted in for itself and the FACT that NONE of the congress dirtbags and their families have to DEAL with the universal health care because they have EXEMPTED themselves from the same crap they want to lay on the rest of the world?

DID these same investigators INFORM us of the amount the congressmen and women pay in health care insurance compared to what WE PAY? ( They pay approx. five hundred dollars PER YEAR for their coverage! ) Did they EXPLAIN why they get BETTER and MUCH CHEAPER CARE than they are forcing upon us?

And BTW---has ANYONE in congress explained to AMERICANS why the PRIME MINISTER of CANADA just chose to have his heart surgery for a valve defect performed in a FLORIDA HOSPITAL because he did not want to make his fellow citizens MAD at him for jumping the long line for the surgery in Canada NOR , as the Prime Minister said himself, did he sign up for inferior health care just because he wanted to be a politician.

Nice going.

I guess the leadership, no matter what the country, gets the best deal, and SCREW the little guy they ROB everyday.

[Hodar]

Congress mandated that Medical Insurance companies couldn’t compete across state lines - so we have 1,300+ individual medical insurance companies, each one working in collusion within the state in which they are allowed to operate.

If all 1,300 companies could compete across state lines, like they can for my home owners insurance, and my car insurance - then not only would competition drive down the prices we pay, it would force these companies to run their programs competitively.

[blackdog]

Waxman asked where does all the money go?.........Really?

Just keep diggin fellas.

[Red in Blue PA]

Execs like this are slitting the throat of Capitalism

[Carley]

California approved the rate increase for a small segment of individual policy holders.

Seems to me a lot of $$$$ went to the CA pols.

[flintsilver7]

Wellpoint’s profit margin is in the neighborhood of 3%. Health insurers, in general, do not make much of a profit. It’s pathetic even compared to the oil companies.

[Nachum]

This whole meeting is nothing but drivel.

If you took all the bonuses PLUS the $380 million profit from the sale of one of Anthem's assets, their actuary said that the company would only be able to return under $6 dollars a month to their policy holders. Some of the conventions were for the agents who sell the products as a reward.

The company's actuary said the company built in a 2% profit. It is one of the lowest profit margins in large industry.

[Deb]

Typical Leftist disinformation. Anthem had to increase their prices because the economy had caused a large number of policy holders to drop out. And they paid million dollar salaries because they were tied to contracts.

This lying propaganda is exactly what Hugo Chavez did to demonize the "rich" and take over Venezuela with his "poor people's revolution".

[Trajan88]

When Waxman asked... "... where does all the money go?"

I would have said eventually to the U.S. Treasury ... got to pay for "O's" and your pet socialism experiments (which are doomed to failure).

[nkycincinnatikid]

In point of fact, The voters still maintain the ability to fire the majority of congress every two years and sweep it broom clean within six.
The banks and insurance companies have shown that they own our elected representatives, our tax dollars and our treasury.
This is just a spat between Thurston B Howell and Lovie.
Don’t be alarmed. They will make up soon.

[bboop]

Insurance agencies — the next EVIL. Disgusting government take-over of private enterprise and salaries.

Smells like Marxism to me. Couched in ‘protecting the people’ of course.

[Bogeygolfer]

“Execs like this are slitting the throat of Capitalism”

First, Anthem is a monster sized company so 30 or 40 salaries in excess of 1 million is no travesty. Second, these retreats are prizes for independent sales agents and a function of reducing costs by increasing market share. Blue Cross of CA, the evildoer in the current story line, is a for profit insurer kicking the crud out of the other two top three carriers in CA, Blue Shield and Kaiser...both of whom are non profits by the way.

[Ramius]

Nonsense. It’s people that think *anyone* is making “too much” that is slitting the throat of capitalism.

As if doing without raises and bonuses would change the math on their rate structure even a bit. It wouldn’t. It’s literally a drop in a bucket.

[Republic]

Did the same congressional investigators talk about the salary increase the congress voted in for itself and the FACT that NONE of the congress dirtbags and their families have to DEAL with the universal health care because they have EXEMPTED themselves from the same crap they want to lay on the rest of the world?

DID these same investigators INFORM us of the amount the congressmen and women pay in health care insurance compared to what WE PAY? ( They pay approx. five hundred dollars PER YEAR for their coverage! ) Did they EXPLAIN why they get BETTER and MUCH CHEAPER CARE than they are forcing upon us?

And BTW---has ANYONE in congress explained to AMERICANS why the PRIME MINISTER of CANADA just chose to have his heart surgery for a valve defect performed in a FLORIDA HOSPITAL because he did not want to make his fellow citizens MAD at him for jumping the long line for the surgery in Canada NOR , as the Prime Minister said himself, did he sign up for inferior health care just because he wanted to be a politician.

Nice going.

I guess the leadership, no matter what the country, gets the best deal, and SCREW the little guy they ROB everyday.

[Red in Blue PA]

I am not a cheerleader for Republicans. The fact is this looks bad to most Americans. You can either acknowledge this fact, or keep your heads in the sand. Having lavish retreats while you raise rates nearly 40% is not the right thing to do, no matter how you look at it.

And if you think WS execs deserved million dollar bonuses while they tanked their companies and then the economy, let’s just agree to disagree.

[MinorityRepublican]

Welcome to communism.