By Chad Terhune
09/01/2015
Los Angeles Times
Nonprofit insurer Blue Shield of California boosted executive compensation by $24 million in 2012 — a 64% jump over the previous year — according to a confidential state audit reviewed by The Times.
The health insurance giant won’t say who got the money or why. But Blue Shield’s former public policy director, Michael Johnson, who left this year and is now a company critic, said senior officials at the insurer told him that former Chief Executive Bruce Bodaken received about $20 million as part of his 2012 retirement package, on top of his annual pay.
Half a dozen other top executives also left the company near the end of 2012, which could have accounted for some of the spike in compensation. Some of this severance or retirement money may be paid out over time, extending beyond 2012.
The San Francisco insurer declined to confirm the total compensation for Bodaken, who was chairman and CEO from 2000 to 2012.
The audit’s tally of $61 million in pay for nearly 60 executives in 2012 appears to include Bodaken and others who left. But Blue Shield omitted their pay from a separate state filing that required 2012 compensation data on the company’s 10-highest paid employees.