Our health care dollars at work
Blue Cross CEO collects $16.4 million
By Susanne L. King
Berkshire Eagle
Wednesday, November 28
For all you boomers who are looking retirement in the eye, cast your gaze on a recent Boston Globe article entitled “Blue Cross gave chairman $16.4 million in retirement pay.” William C. Van Faasen, 58, collected those benefits in 2006, even though he didn’t leave the company. He merely stepped down as chief executive of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, but retained his position as chairman, receiving nearly $3 million in salary and bonuses the same year he collected retirement benefits. This astonishing gift went to the chairman of a non-profit organization that does not pay income taxes to a state that is trying to provide universal health insurance to its citizens.
According to a survey conducted by the non-partisan research group, the Employee Benefit Research Institute, the rising costs of health care are cutting into the ability of workers to contribute to their retirement accounts. The researchers found that 63 percent of Americans have experienced an increase in costs they had to pay under their health plans in the past year. Of those, more than 50 percent reduced their household savings because of increased health care costs, and 30 percent decreased the amount they saved they saved for retirement.
On the other hand, Van Faasen retires at an early age, wealthy beyond one’s wildest dreams thanks to our health care dollars. And we work longer and find it harder to fund our retirement years.
Massachusetts, meanwhile, is having trouble finding enough money for its new health care program, as more previously uninsured people have signed up for the government-subsidized health plans than was anticipated. The Berkshire Eagle reported last week that the state may need an additional $146 million to pay for the program this fiscal year.
In a separate article, The Eagle also reported that insurance companies estimated that prices for the Commonwealth Choice health plans that are not subsidized by the state will be raised 10-12 percent by the insurance companies next year. In addition, the cheapest and most heavily subscribed plan will be dropped. The lack of affordability of the insurance plans for the state, individuals, and businesses makes Van Faasen’s salary and retirement benefit package, and Blue Cross /Blue Shield’s non-profit status, even more astonishing.
If we had a single-payer health insurance program, either in our state or nationwide, insurance companies, with their bloated administrative expenses that include CEO salaries and retirement benefits, would not exist. Health care funds would be administered by either the state or federal government, and administrative expenses would be 3 percent instead of more than 30 percent. Nationally, this would save $350 billion annually in administrative costs, enough to provide comprehensive health care for the 47 million uninsured people in our country. Everyone would be in the same risk pool, and cherry-picking of healthy workers by the insurance companies would not exist. There would be no drain of our hard-earned retirement funds to line the pockets of health insurance company executives.
Single-payer legislation in our state is called the Massachusetts Health Care Trust, Senate Bill 703 (full text at www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/185/st00/st00703.htm).
The federal legislation for single-payer health care is H.R. 766. You might be interested in the covered services in the state single-payer bill, in order to compare them to your current Massachusetts health insurance coverage. The benefits in the single-payer bill include prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness and injury, both inpatient and outpatient, as well as mental health and dental care, acupuncture, physical therapy, chiropractic and podiatric treatment. Covered benefits also include all prenatal and maternity care, rehabilitation of sick and disabled persons, prescription drugs, and medical equipment and appliances-all the services that you would expect in a comprehensive health plan.
Of especial interest to all you baby boomers (and your children), other covered benefits are home health care, including personal care, and long-term care in nursing homes. The legislation specifically states: “No deductibles, co-payments, co-insurance, or other cost sharing shall be imposed with respect to covered benefits.” Now that would improve your retirement planning — no need to buy long-term care insurance and health insurance policies to supplement Medicare and pay for your prescriptions. If we did not have to fill the coffers of the insurance companies and their executives, we would all be better off financially.
Health insurance companies have money and powerful lobbying forces; you have your voice. Call, write or e-mail your legislators and tell them what you think.
Susanne L. King, M.D. is a Lenox practitioner.