CHICAGO, March 15 (UPI) -- Health Care Service Corp. paid Gail Boudreaux $15.3 million after she was passed up for the top spot at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois' parent company.
Crain's Chicago Business reported Sunday that the payoff included a $5 million bonus and $9.9 million in "other compensation" for the company's former executive vice president, a state filing shows.
Pat O'Connor, senior vice president and chief human resources officer, said an undisclosed portion of the $9.9 million payout represents severance pay.
Boudreaux, 48, announced her resignation a month after Patricia Hemingway Hall was tapped to succeed longtime Chief Executive Officer Raymond McCaskey in November 2007. Crain's noted McCaskey received $10.6 million from the insurance company last year.
Executive pay at Health Care Service Corp. is the highest for all Blue Cross companies nationally, Crain's reported.
"Someone walking out the door with $15 million is just astonishing when you have so many people who are losing their insurance," says Jim Duffett, executive director of the Campaign for Better Health Care, a coalition of hundreds of Illinois employers.
