Mass. Universal Health Connector Pays Executives Well

More than half of the people working for the new state agency charged with providing health insurance for Massachusetts’ low-income residents make more than $100,000 a year — and six earn more than Gov. Deval Patrick.

The Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector’s executive director, Jon Kingsdale, earns $225,000 annually. Deputy director Rosemarie Day receives $175,500.

Twelve of the Connector’s 22 employees make more than $100,000. Patrick makes $140,535 a year.

“I am going to call in the director and find out where they’re spending the money,” House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi told The Boston Globe. “We don’t want administrative costs to be too high. We want the money spent efficiently.”

Richard Powers, the Connector’s director of public affairs, said the salaries reflected the employees’ abilities. Most have an extensive background in the health insurance industry, and five of eight senior staff members make less than in their previous jobs, he said.

The state’s universal health care law was approved last year to provide affordable coverage to about 500,000 uninsured residents. All adults must have insurance coverage by July 1 or pay a penalty, unless they prove they can’t afford it.

Salaries for Connector employees initially are being paid by a $25 million appropriation by the Legislature, but eventually will be funded by insurance companies through premium surcharges.

“If they’re paying large salaries, the $25 million isn’t going to last long,” said state Sen. Richard Moore, who helped shepherd the bill through the Legislature.

John McDonough, executive director of the advocacy group Health Care for All, said the compensation was not too high.

“Compared to what people make in state government, these salaries are high, but not compared to what comparable people make in a commercial insurance world,” he said. “If they didn’t pay these salaries, I don’t believe they would be getting the quality people they need to do this highly complex operation.”

But McDonough said he worried about the system’s sustainability.

“The whole structure is fraught with uncertainty,” he said.

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Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/globe

Latest Comments

• January 30, 2007 at 4:04 am

  ernie says:

  I figure within a year, each of the 20 other employees will be head of a department within the agency, with 5000 employees who make slightly less than $100,000. There won\'t b... read more
• January 30, 2007 at 3:48 am

  IJ Staff says:

  While we do not ban individual members, and do not require an account in order to post to the IJ comments section, that may be changing soon. It has come to our attention that... read more
• January 30, 2007 at 3:33 am

  Bob Johnson says:

  Is anyone surprised?!?!?! The future and current increasing paychecks are in government work, school teachers and the medical field. All of the above have a blank check to pay... read more