Mass. Lawmakers Consider Ban On Insurer Board Pay

Massachusetts lawmakers are set to consider pay restrictions for board members for the state's four major nonprofit health insurers.

The Legislature's Joint Committee on the Judiciary is scheduled to hear testimony Tuesday on a bill prohibiting public charities from paying their directors without approval from the state's Attorney General's Office.

The proposal comes after outcry earlier this year over news that Cleve Killingsworth, CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, collected $1.4 million in severance and $7.4 million in additional compensation last year.

A review by Attorney General Martha Coakley found no justification for nonprofit health insurers to continue paying board members five-figure salaries.

Since then, Blue Cross and Fallon Community Health Plan have stopped compensating board members. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan have continued.