San Francisco-based Blue Shield of California boosted executive compensation by $24 million in 2012, according to a confidential California Franchise Tax Board audit reviewed by the Los Angeles Times.
The increase, which includes figures for nearly 60 top officers, is 64 percent greater than the 2011 compensation increase. Blue Shield paid $61 million to its top executives in 2012 and $37 million to the same group in 2011.
The nonprofit insurer is California's third-largest health insurer with approximately 3.4 million members and $13.6 billion in annual revenue.
Several executives, including former CEO Bruce Bodaken, left the company in 2012. Their severance or retirement pay may have contributed to the pay increase.
The company claimed numerous factors led to the increase. "Many factors contributed to this one-time increase in officer compensation that affected a large number of employees, including severance, pension, deferred compensation, accrued vacation, merit increases, incentive pay, benefits and relocation expense reimbursement," said Blue Shield spokesman Steve Shivinsky.
Critics are more skeptical. California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said Blue Shield's choice to exclude executive pay from its regulatory filing "raises very serious and troubling questions with regard to whether Blue Shield misled the Department of Insurance."