More on Massachusetts Health Insurers’ Director Compensation

What a week it is shaping up to be for Massachusetts health insurers!  In yet another article in the Boston Globe, 2 more boards rethink own pay, we learn that Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan have said that their boards will soon meet to deliberate upon Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley’s pressure on them to stop receiving “five-figure annual payments.”   The story continues:

“These board fees for insurance companies are off the reservation,’’ said F. Warren McFarlan, professor emeritus at Harvard Business School and an authority on nonprofit boards, noting that the state’s nonprofit hospitals and universities do not pay their part-time directors.   “On for-profit boards, you expect to be paid. In the nonprofit world, it’s about time, talent, and treasure. It’s about serving the organization’s mission,’’ he said.

Documents filed with the state Division of Insurance last week showed that Harvard Pilgrim, Tufts, and Fallon Community Health Plan, like Blue Cross, paid most of their directors large sums for part-time board service in 2010. While less generous than those given to Blue Cross board members, payments ranged from $21,900 to $68,100 at Harvard Pilgrim, $19,500 to $82,500 at Tufts (except for two board members who received nominal fees), and $13,900 to $24,350 at Fallon.

AG Coakley’s office is reportedly completing a 16-month probe of nonprofit board member compensation, and is expected to recommend that nonprofit insurers end director compensation. 

JRB