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Another Mass. Health Insurer Suspends Board Pay

Massachusetts' fourth-largest health insurer has joined the state's largest nonprofit service provider in suspending pay for its board of directors.

Fallon Community Health Plan announced on Friday that its directors have voluntarily suspended their compensation effectively immediately.

Spokeswoman Christine Cassidy says Fallon's directors compensation is the "most modest among Massachusetts-based insurance carriers," averaging between $13,900 and $23,425 annually in 2010. Last year, the board voted to cut its pay.

Tufts Health Care Plan and Harvard Pilgrim have said their boards will meet later this month to discuss whether to follow the advice of Attorney General Martha Coakley and stop taking five-figure annual payments.

That announcement came after the state's largest nonprofit health insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, said it will suspend payments to its directors at least through this year, and consider changing its legal structure.

Coakley called Fallon's decision "a positive first step" and urged Tufts and Harvard Pilgrim to follow suit.

This program aired on March 18, 2011. The audio for this program is not available.

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