Blue Cross Blue Shield execs used policyholder $ for parties, bonuses, more

By GottaLaff

Why we need a public option right now:

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota used premium payments to fund $15 million in employee bonuses, cover $35,000 for a retirement party and pay for other questionable expenses, according to a state audit released Tuesday.

Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm said he ordered the company to make changes after insurance examiners found inappropriate or excessive expenses paid with policyholders' dollars. He said the nearly inch-thick report raised questions about compensation, travel policies, investments and severance packages.

Hamm said the report showed "a lack of judgment" by board members and senior management. It was the first audit of the nonprofit company since 2004. [...]

Company officials said Tuesday that changes were already being made when Hamm ordered the audit in March, following criticism of a sales managers' trip to the Grand Cayman Islands that cost $238,000. The company's chief executive at the time, Mike Unhjem, was fired later that month. [...]

Hamm said that of the $418 million in the company's administrative expenses over the past five years, the audit found "millions and millions of dollars in excessive expenses."

The report said that premium payments funded nearly $15 million in employee bonuses that were almost assured regardless of performance, a $3.5 million investment in a hotel in Fargo and sales reward trips to resorts totaling $1.2 million.

In one case, the audit found that $34,814 was spent for a party for a retiring vice president.

Yep, the Rushpublics have nailed it. We have the bestest health care system in the whole wide world. A public option would ruin everything.

KBR: Shoddy, substandard, and still at it

By GottaLaff

KBR, what a fine, praiseworthy, upstanding, respectable little company. Let's take a look-see at what they're up to these days. What luck! The Pentagon's inspector general just reported everything in an audit!

After Hurricane Ivan struck the Gulf Coast that September, and Hurricane Katrina a year later, KBR was given a number of tasks. They included removing water-damaged carpet and drywall; applying temporary roofing; removing debris; and building trailer parks for displaced families at naval air stations in Pensacola, Fla., and Gulfport, Miss., the Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi and other facilities in the region. The inspector general reported that its audit of KBR's work found:

· The Navy entered into an illegal "cost-plus-percentage-of-cost" contract with the company. Higher costs meant more profit for KBR, which rewarded the company for "inefficiency and non-economical performance," the report said.

· KBR paid $4.1 million for services and meals that should have cost $1.7 million, and it awarded sole-source or limited-competition subcontracts that overpaid hourly rates to roofers.

· The company was paid nearly all contract amounts despite "marginal-to-average performance."

The inspector general recommended that the Navy try to recoup about $8.4 million in "excessive" equipment lease payments and material profits, and another $1.4 million for more than 110,000 meals that were paid for and thrown away over a 34-day period.

What stellar patriots! Why, they're nearly as trustworthy and effective as Blackwater U.S.A.! The article goes on and on. Please read it, because I wouldn't want anyone out there to forget about them. After all, KBR's former chief executive is the U.S. of A.'s very own Vice President, the Nation of Dick himself.