Rochester, N.Y. – As many Excellus BlueCross BlueShield subscribers see double-digit rate increases, people want to know how an executive can receive a multi-million retirement package. After 39 years with the company, Chief Financial Officer Zeke Duda received a $10.9-million retirement package.
“I think that's a pretty large amount,” said BlueCross BlueShield subscriber Andy Thistle, “and the fact that people struggle all the time to pay for health care it seems excessive.”
But not all subscribers think a good retirement is undeserved.
“I think he should get a good retirement package,” said BlueCross BlueShield subscriber Steve Greene. ”We all deserve good retirement packages.”
“It certainly is a reasonable question to ask whether that retirement package is excessive,” said George Conboy of Brighton Securities. This number for a retirement package for a CFO of a $6-billion company, like Excellus, is not unheard of, said Conboy.
“It's not unusual to see a compensation package of this size,” said Conboy, “I think the average Excellus subscriber might say - who's in charge of oversight, who makes these decisions?”
In a statement from Randall Clark, chairman of the board of Lifetime Healthcare Inc., Excellus's parent company, he said executives do not play any roll in determining their compensation.
"Executive compensation is based on the competitive market for comparable positions locally and nationally, and the performance of both the individual and the company," stated Clark.
Clark also stated that as industry norms change compensation and benefits are less generous to their new executives.
