Breaking: Elliot Jacobson Out at the IC (Updated)
Elliot Jacobson is out as Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart’s Chief of Staff. He will apparently remain as a “special adviser” for a little while. His demotion seems to be the result of his June 17 announcement that Blue Cross Blue Shield will stop requiring doctors to obtain permission before performing nuclear stress tests.
The tests — which use a radioactive tracing material and advanced imaging machines to detect artery blockages that can cause heart attacks — are at the center of a Delaware controversy over whether health insurers should second-guess doctors.
David Ramos, a Dover cardiologist, called Blue Cross’ decision to stop denying coverage for nuclear stress tests “promising news.” “Less interference in the practice of medicine I always favor,” Ramos said.
Jacobson said it’s “the responsible thing to do.”
Blue Cross would not comment on proposed changes to its pre-authorization program, though it is expected to announce a set of changes soon. The carrier has been considering changes since March, when it was accused of endangering patients’ health by refusing to pay for diagnostic exams that doctors believed were necessary to properly diagnose and treat patients.
Eliott either stole some thunder away from KWS, who probably wanted to announce this development herself; or she and/or BCBS did not intend to end the pre-authorization program and Jacobson’s announcement put them in a corner. If it is the former, this is a petty reaction on the part of KWS. If it is the latter, it is insidious, and more proof that she is in the pocket of Big Insurance.
UPDATE: The News Journal now has the story, and it reveals another layer to this mess.
Stewart said the decision to replace Jacobson was a “business decision” and had nothing to do with issues regarding outside contractors or the investigation of insurance companies. “I’m not happy with Elliott’s management style,” she said.
But the manner in which word of the shake-up emerged suggests deeper turmoil within Stewart’s office.
A letter announcing the removal of Jacobson and the naming of lawyer Michael Gould, previously a senior adviser, as acting chief of staff, was circulated in Legislative Hall on Thursday, as an attachment to an e-mail from Gould. The attached letter was ostensibly from Stewart but lacked her signature.In an interview, Stewart said she did not write it — nor authorize it.
“I think somebody is going to get a two-week vacation very shortly,” Stewart said. “I’m not a rotten manager. I’m a really good manager. So somebody’s in lots of trouble.”
This is priceless. Stewart is firing, or rather, demoting, Jacobson for getting out in front of her and announcing the BCBS changes before she could, but before she could do that, her new Chief of Staff, Michael Gould, got out in front of her and announced Jacobson’s firing. Doesn’t that mean that Gould must now be demoted?
Or does that mean the IC office, and Karen Weldin Stewart, is incompetent.
The ‘proposed changes’ have been decided and are being announced to plan holders now, The short version is that all prior authorization requirements are back in place except the cardiac stress test.
Charlie McCarthy is going solo.
Full NJ writeup:
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100625/NEWS02/6250372
So the guy who helped run Mike Gravel’s presidential campaign is incompetent. Who’da thunk?
And on an unrelated note, state prosecutors apparently continue to drive drunk. The fourth arrest in three years. What on earth is going on in the AG’s office?
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100625/NEWS01/6250331
Geez. What a clusterfuck:
Guess what? When you have to announce, “”I’m not a rotten manager. I’m a really good manager.” – it is a good sign that you are a rotten manager.
“I am not a crook.”
Spoken by a crook.
Oh, and when KWS describes this as both ‘a business decision’ and ‘truly a business decision’ in the same article, maybe we should take her at her word that it WAS a business decision. The businesses in question being health insurance companies who chafe at not being able to turn down policyholders for tests that could save their lives.
Too bad the ‘Honorables’ have determined that there is nothing they can do. Seriously, if the General Assembly can’t protect us from corrupt and incompetent leadership in an office created by an act of the Delaware General Assembly, then WTF are they there for? Besides, of course, salaries, benefits and pensions.
Time to amend the Constitution and make this an appointed office.
This article was the best morning comedy that the NJ has published in a while.
“I’m not a rotten manager. I’m a really good manager. So somebody’s in lots of trouble.”
Too funny.
I am still laughing at that line, A1. Oh God.
My subsequent BC/BS letter received in light of all this, essentially said we’re still gonna refuse/deny, but you go do what your doctor told you to do, and we’ll work it out later. And if I could remember which recycling/trash pile I tossed it in around here I’d share it with you!!
“I’m not a rotten manager. I’m a really good manager.”
Repeated 100 times in front of mirror as morning affirmation by KWS.
I’m with you A1 –
“I’m not a rotten manager. I’m a really good manager. So somebody’s in lots of trouble.”
It’s you, KWS, who is in a lot of trouble.
Why is Will Ferrell’s voice in my head w/ “I’m not a rotten manager, I’m a really good manager.”…was it ELF?
Glinda The Good Witch: “Now tap your ruby slippers together three times, and repeat after me, I’m not a rotten manager, I’m a really good manager, I’m not a rotten manager…”
Good work El, I knew a deeper hypnosis could unlock the mystery:) !!!
It’s good to see the truth finally coming out. It sure took long enough.
It’s obvious that KWS was a GOP plant, much like Alvin Greene in South Carolina, for the sole purpose of embarassing the Delaware electorate. Any candidate with the stellar credentials that KWS exhibited should have been uncovered as too good to be true.
She appears to have the wits of a plant.
It’s obvious to me that she only reached her position in close concert with her two best friends,Neil and Bob.
Hey now!! This thread just jumped the shark.
and she’s a fish out of water
The wonderful benefits of one-party rule.
“The wonderful benefits of one-party rule.”
That comment is so stupid it could have come from the IC herself. Her own party was against her, Einstein.
“That comment is so stupid it could have come from the IC herself. Her own party was against her, Einstein.”
Are you claiming she was elected on merit?
She was elected for three reasons: (1) She had name recognition from her two previous failed campaigns; (2) she was running in a generally Democratic year and got some of the Obama/Markell coattails; and (3) she was running against a GOP candidate who didn’t have the full backing of the GOP. A lot of social conservatives sat that one out because of John Brady’s orientation.
I’d say that is a pretty fair take on the general election. Recall that she beat a better qualified candidate in the primary because that candidate stumbled out of the gate due to ham handed fundraising and got pasted for it.
You’re both wrong. It was the perky picture.
You mean the Dorothy Hamill era picture that even now greats visitors to the IC Office web site?
http://www.delawareinsurance.gov/
She beat Gene Reed because she complained to campaign finance authorities about him taking money from the infamous state contractor RIS/INS, which gave her $35,000 via the Democratic party after she won the primary. She tried the same thing with Donna Lee Williams in 2000 and with Matt Denn in 2004, but it didn’t work then because she was so outclassed, especially in 2004.
Nancy…oh Nancy…I am expecting you to come in an dtell us how you advised KWS to do this…but you still arent on the payroll are you?
That’s the one. I am pretty sure she keeps the original in her attic.
I’m not sure about the exact mechanics, but it is safe to say that the Brady people and KWS effectively doubled teamed Reed. You can’t fault the Brady people (much) because they rightly viewed KWS as the weaker opponent.
“She appears to have the wits of a plant.”
I want to go on record as being completely offended, on behalf of plant life everywhere, by the “wits of a plant” remark and I’d like to argue that plants are in fact smarter than KWS, because they are able to turn CO2 into O2, while KWS has only been able to turn a profitable, well run IC office into a fiasco.
I demand that jason330 retract his statement immediately.
I retract the comparison – but only on the grounds that plants have too much integrity to use 25 year old campaign photos.
What do you expect from an uneducated woman who’s never worked in any professional capacity. She doesn’t know any better. The funny thing is that she wouldn’t have been elected without Jacobson’s help, and now she’s ditching him. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. Pure stupidity. I wouldn’t be surprised if he quits, claims constructive discharge, and sues her scrawny butt and the state on top of that. Jacobson is not a consultant but is on the state payroll.
Here’s another laugh for you: http://www.delawareinsurance.gov/signup.shtml . A concise statement of her priorities right next to the old glamour shot.
Another link from the DOI website with an RFP for “Director, Bureau of Finance and Insurance Products”, aka the Captive Bureau, aka front for paying a bunch of cronies about a half million a year for nothing:
http://www.delawareinsurance.gov/RFPsjobs.shtml That was Steve Kinion’s job, he of the Illinois residence and Illinois law practice. Has he left the sinking ship in the dark of night?
When they say the letter was “ostensibly from Stewart,” it must have the with bad grammar and spelling that gave her away.
Oops. Some strange sort of self-fulfilling prophecy there…..Let’s try that again:
When they say the letter was “ostensibly from Stewart,” it must have been the bad grammar and spelling that gave her away.
When you think about it, she should have demoted herself instead of Jacobson. Just another one of her big mistakes. I wonder how much of her kickback money she promised to funnel to Gould and how much she had to pay Jacobson off with. When you insult the person who has done all the work and hidden all the bodies by demoting him, you probably pay him off bigtime.
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100625/NEWS02/6250372 When Cathcart says, “The only thing it does is make us wonder whether there is any type of order in that office at all,” you might think somebody over there is actually waking up. Hey, guys! It’s about time.