Thursday Morning: A Healthy Health Insurance Industry

Published March 10, 2011

With outrage still simmering over the pay for top executives of health insurance companies — all nonprofits — WBUR’s Martha Bebinger reports that many of them routinely receive major, major bonuses.

In other health insurance news, the second- and third-largest insurers in the state are re-thinking pay for their board members. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan said yesterday that their boards will meet to discuss whether they will continue to draw large salaries for occasional work overseeing the insurance companies.

The mother and sister of Sen. Scott Brown are defending the accuracy of the senator’s memoir. Brown’s family backed the story of a stepfather’s regular abuse, even as the man denies it.

Family members of a retired MBTA mechanic shot and killed by a Framingham police officer say they’re likely to sue after the Middlesex County District Attorney concluded yesterday that the shooting was accidental. Police say the man died when a SWAT team member accidentally discharged his gun after tripping during a drug raid.

What we’re following: We’ll continue to follow Gov. Deval Patrick’s trade mission to Israel and the UK, local reaction to the Wisconsin collective bargaining bill and the second trial in a gruesome New Hampshire home invasion case. Radio Boston will speak with Gov. Peter Shumlin of Vermont, who is working to create a single-payer health insurance system in his state.