Dive Brief:
- Salary hikes for two of Maine's Community Health Options top executives are being scrutinized by regulators after the co-op reportedly lost millions in 2015, the Portland Press Herald reports.
- In 2014, CEO Kevin Lewis and COO Robert Hillman's combined salaries equaled $715,819, compared to $311,642 in 2012.
- Although the Maine co-op was profitable in 2014 with more than 40,000 enrollees, it lost more than $17 million in the first nine months of last year, according to the Associated Press.
Dive Insight:
Although Community Health was seen as one of the few succesful co-ops in 2014, by the end of 2015, it had lost $31 million due to an influx of health claims that the company said was a resut of the rising drug prices. Last year, it paid about $250 million for such claims, up from about $117 million in 2014.
“I don’t think there’s a single carrier that had a profitable year in 2015, at least in the individual marketplace,” Lewis told the Portland Press Herald.
“Our team has gotten a lot better and has more tools in place," Lewis said. "Our dashboard is a lot more accurate and sensitive.”
According to the Portland Press Herald, co-op officials said they cut administrative expenses by $11 million, which includes a 10% cut in Lewis' salary. It also hopes to be financially stable again with $43 million in reserves.
The failure of 11 co-ops has resulted in a $1.2 billion debt in federal loans, Healthcare Dive previously reported.