Deval Patrick fires critic on Health Connector panel

Sept. 26--Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday summarily sacked the administration's harshest critic on the embattled Health Connector board, while a group of insurance brokers have come forward saying state officials won't meet with them anymore because of their outspoken criticism of the glitch-ridden Obamacare website.

"In some ways I'm surprised they didn't replace me earlier," Ian Duncan, who had served on the Health Connector board since October 2007, told the Herald. "I haven't exactly been quiet about the fact that this whole thing -- the price tag for the whole debacle -- is approaching half a billion dollars, not one dollar of which is providing health care for anyone."

Duncan was officially notified of his ouster by Secretary of Administration and Finance Glen Shor, who told him "we're replacing you" in a brief phone call yesterday morning, just 40 minutes before a press release went out.

"That was the first I knew about it," said Duncan, an actuary who is the president of Solucia Inc. and a professor at University of California at Santa Barbara. "I'm disappointed, of course, because I've been involved in the good days when the old Massachusetts Connector really worked well, and then in this last difficult year, asking questions no one else wanted to ask."

Meanwhile, David Shore, the president of the Massachusetts Association of Health Underwriters, told the Herald yesterday his group has been trying to meet with Connector officials to plan for the Nov. 15 relaunch of the Obamacare website, but believes they're being rebuffed because the group has been publicly critical of the portal's woeful rollout.

"It's my opinion that hurt feelings and bruised egos have prevented this meeting that could otherwise benefit 450,000 people," said Shore. "It was an olive branch overture, saying ... we'd like to explore how we can be helpful to the commonwealth in this process."

In May, Shore said the Patrick administration's rescue plan showed a "complete disregard for public money" and placed an "unnecessary financial burden" on insurers.

That same month, Duncan accused the administration of bypassing the Connector board in its rescue efforts of the costly Obamacare site, including awarding no-bid contracts to Optum and a company it holds a 24-percent stake in, hCentive.

In a statement, Connector Executive Director Jean Yang offered lukewarm praise for Duncan, calling him "an important voice" who played "a significant part" in health care reform.

"It is important to have different voices on the Connector Board at different times," said spokeswoman Alex Zaroulis.

A Connector official noted that board member George Gonser, an insurance broker, was reappointed yesterday, despite voting against the administration's rescue plan in May. But Shore said his group was never notified about the decision to reappoint Gonser, even though that seat is designated for a MassAHU member and the group has been consulted in the past.

Zaroulis said the law only requires that the seat belong to a member of the brokers group. Patrick appoints 4 members to the 11-person board, while Attorney General Martha Coakley names three.

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