Harvard Pilgrim CEO works to contain costs, negotiate with state insurance regulators

The Boston Globe: "When an insurance appeals board issued a surprise ruling on June 24 toppling the Patrick administration's cap on Harvard Pilgrim Health Care's premium rates, there was little time for gloating in the health insurer's executive offices. … A week letter, Harvard Pilgrim struck a deal with regulators voluntarily limiting its 2010 rate increases to single digits. … That decision reflects the pragmatic approach of [Eric H. Schultz, chief executive of Harvard Pilgrim], a soft-spoken industry veteran who has found himself at the center of the health insurance storm in recent months and is emerging as a tougher competitor to the larger Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.  … The pressure to contain costs has intensified in recent months, pitting the insurer against the hospitals and doctors with which it negotiates rates" (Weisman, 8/24).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.