Top 10 Highest Paid Oregon Health Insurance Executives
Regence CEO takes a 40 percent pay cut while Clear One Health Plan executives saw their salaries soar last year
His Oregon salary dropped by a whopping 40 percent, to $521,873 including benefits, while Regence’s membership (718,000 lives) stayed at nearly an all-time low, according to newly released year-end financial disclosure statements filed with the Oregon Insurance Division.
Ganz also receives compensation from Regence Group health plans in Idaho, Washington and Utah, which was not known at press time for 2009, though his Washington compensation last year alone topped $900,000.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the executive team at for-profit Clear One Health Plans outdid all of its competitors. Not only will these executives benefit from the $46 million sale of their health plan to PacificSource as stockholders, but their salaries grew at astronomical proportions.
Leading the way was Patricia Gibford, its founding president and CEO, who realized a huge 74 percent salary increase, earning $659,615 in 2009. She was closely followed by her second-in-command – Gunnar Hansen, CFO – whose salary grew by 78 percent, taking home $472,703.
Even Randy Cline, its former COO, who left Clear One last fall and is now the chief marketing officer at Willamette Dental, saw his salary grow by 71 percent, reaching $430,504.
Dr. Bart McMullan, former president of Regence BCBS of Oregon, was the only other health insurance executive in Oregon to surpass Gibford's salary increase. McMullan’s salary jumped 86 percent up to $1.4 million after presumably collecting deferred compensation upon his retirement.
David Ford, CEO of CareOregon, an Oregon Health Plan contractor which also has a Medicare Advantage Plan, realized a 13 percent increase, earning $434,487, including benefits, in 2009.
Other executive salary increases remained in the single digit column – Jack Friedman, CEO of Providence Health Plans (6 percent) at $511,626, Majd Fowzi El-Azma, CEO of LifeWise (4 percent) at $373,578 and Chris Ellertson, CEO of HealthNet (3 percent) at $257,111
Meanwhile, Regence’s CEO wasn’t the sole executive who brought home a smaller paycheck last year. Three of his colleagues suffered a similar plight -- among them, Andrew McCulloch, the regional president of Kaiser (-24 percent), who earned $525,533.
Next in line was Robert Gootee, CEO of ODS Health Plan and Oregon Dental Service who took home $373,578, which represented a 4 percent decrease. Finally Ken Provencher, CEO and president of PacificSource, saw his salary go down by 5 percent, earning $353,271. In 2008, Provencher was the only health insurance executive in Oregon who lowered his salary.
All of these salary figures include benefits. What follows is a list of all the salaries of health insurance executives in Oregon, courtesy of the Oregon Insurance Division, along with a list of insurance board members and their compensation.
For a complete list of top executive compensation in an excel spreadsheet click here.
For related articles click here.
For related article on salaries reported last year click here.
For year-end financial statements click here.
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Maybe I'm not watching the right news programs, but where is the debate on health care in the US of late? I guess that is the ever changing news cycle for you. I'm sure it will return to the forefront as the presidential race heats up. Especially with Romney open for attack from his opponents for the GOP nomination in regard to his handling of health care in Massachusetts.
I would hope that if insurance execs are being unnecessarily greedy, that the marketplace would show them that there is no interest in allowing this to continue by moving elsewhere. Unfortunately, there are many more factors at play that make this easier said then done.
Regarding the salaries of top executives in Oregon, I think that it's speculative to jump to the conclusion that higher premiums are introduced as a way to pad the pockets of those in charge. Is this happening? I don't know. However, it shouldn't be the gut reaction for those with medical billing issues, as it it may not lead to the change that people want: affordable health care.
Instead, people need to find out what will create the change they wish to see and make it count in town hall meetings and the voting booth.
Not only did ClearOne execs increase their rediculous salaries, they did this at the same time they froze their employees' wages and bonus potential (eg- little to none) - these workers had to work long hours under extremely stressful conditions due to the poor management decisions regarding an under-budgeted move to a different claims processing platform; and let's not forget about member premium increases...
That can be understandable as we know last year people were in severe economic crisis and now things are getting better slowly probably that might have helped them to earn more.
Jhon.
Some executives enjoy health benefits in retirement; According to Forbes, the CEOs of these three were among the top 500 highest-paid executives.
This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I love seeing websites that understand the value of providing a quality resource for free. It’s the old what goes around comes around routine.
I have been self- employed for 28 years. I bought health insurance
for most of the 28 years. My husband and I had coverage thru his job for a couple of years, then he was layed off. We tried to buy back into the system but can't afford it. The premiums run about 600.00 to 800.00 a piece with a deductible of anywhere from 2500 to 7500 for life insurance quotes. Tell me we're not the forgotten tax payers who pay for the healthcare of state, county and federal workers only to not have the option to affordable health care? If everyone realized just how many people can't buy into the system and how many more will follow in the coming years, they would see that this is about as real as life and death gets.
People that are fortunate to have coverage turn a blind eye on others because they do not want what they have taken away. We protest Wars because we don't want the blood of people on our hands. People are dying every day in the U.S., because they are limited on their options for care. All I want as a tax paying citizen is to have the same rights as anyone whom that I provide monies for their healthcare. Thanks for listening.
@mike3050. I know just what you mean. I have been continuously covered by health insurance since 1982 yet just because, when my husband & I moved to Oregon we were on a private plan, none of the private companies here had to accept us. Now we are stuck with the OMIP plan. If they keep increasing premiums like they have been, we will not be able to afford it and will join the ranks of the uninsured who risk losing their life's work because of an unforeseen illness or accident. Yet, as long as these fat-cat CEO's get their's, that's all they care about.
Outrageous. Once again, executives who destroy their companies, run them into the ground and lay off workers walk away with huge profits. Clear One's enrollment is miniscule compared to the other plans and yet their CEO raked in more than the CEO who is buying their dying company. Meanwhile the employees who have given their heart and soul to Clear One end up with nothing. Gibford and Hansen are basically Lay and Skilling on a smaller scale . And where was the board all this time as the company was being run into the ground by executive incompetence and greed?
This chapter has closed. Clear One no longer exists.
Thanks for the post. Its a great opportunity that you open this kind of topic. Talking about the highest paid executives, here is Roxanne Spillet.Virtue is supposed to be its own reward, but it seems Roxanne Spillet may not agree – since the CEO of the non-profit Boys and Girls Club takes in almost a cool million a year. Well, that isn't that high a salary, and if you compared nonprofit CEO salaries and CEO compensation at other firms – there's probably still quite a disparity. It isn't as if a person should have to worry about payday loans, even if they're doing a good deed.