Excellus CEO sees 9% pay hike
The president and CEO for Excellus BlueCross BlueShield saw his total wages top $2 million last year — a 9 percent increase as the company's top executives saw wages climb an overall average of 2.1 percent.
Excellus posted a net income of $99.5 million, or 1.7 percent of premium revenues. It was the highest margin since 2012, aided by an increase in total revenue, and lower operating expenses.
The area's largest health insurer, based in Rochester, continues to cut administrative expenses, as costs associated with the Affordable Care Act declined. Excellus also saw a drop in expenses related to a data breech in 2015, reporting $2.6 million in payments to Dallas-based Kroll Info Assurance for ongoing credit monitoring and other identity theft protection for customers. Expenses related to responding to the cyberhack topped $17 million in the first year.
►Excellus records hacked; 10.5 million records affected
►Breach cost Excellus $17.3M in 2015
The company continued to shed members, though at a slower pace, down roughly 56,000 fully insured members last year compared to a 100,000 decline a year prior, records show.
In a statement, Excellus said the boost in CEO Christopher C. Booth's wages — a total reflecting base salary, bonus and other compensation — was "set by the company's board of directors on the basis of market-based data and performance." Other top earners included Dorothy A. Coleman, chief financial officer, paid $1.1 million, and Stephen Sloan, chief administrative officer and general counsel, whose total wages were nearly $855,000.
The increase for Booth was "generous," given the marketplace and community, said George Conboy of Brighton Securities. As for the company's overall performance, being a nonprofit health plan, Conboy said it appeared Excellus was "doing a good job."
"It's critical for our plan to achieve a margin so that our business can be financially healthy for the security of our members," said company President and CEO Christopher C. Booth, referencing last year's financial collapse of Health Republic, a short-lived nonprofit which had about 200,000 members enrolled through the state's health exchange when it was shut down.
Excellus' financials were in line with the company's goal of earning an average 1.5 percent annual net income.
The company reported paying out $5.1 billion in benefits, of which $1.3 billion was in drug benefits. Excellus saw a 10.8 percent increase in drug spending per member with prescription coverage last year. The top areas of claim payments were those related to cancer treatment ($323 million), joint disorders ($193 million) and preventive care services ($185 million).
Excellus paid $506 million in state and federal taxes, excluding ACA charges.