Reitz drops interim title

• By TED GRIGGS
• Advocate business writer
• Published: Apr 2, 2009 - Page: 1D

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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana removed the interim tag from President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Reitz’s titles, ending a nationwide search by selecting the company veteran.

Reitz used Wednesday’s announcement as an opportunity to address the need to lower the cost of health care.

“Even before this crisis, the cost of health insurance was a burden for too many people,” Reitz said in a prepared statement. “We must address the root of this problem: the rising cost of health care itself.”

That means every stakeholder — insurers, doctors, hospitals, government, drugmakers and consumers — must get involved, Reitz said.

Reitz has been with the company for more than 30 years and his father, Howard Reitz, served as Blue Cross president from 1966 to 1983. Mike Reitz has served as interim president and CEO since August, taking over for Gery Barry, who left after four years to become chief strategy officer for Aetna Inc.

Reitz has been Blue Cross’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer since 2000. He also served a previous stint as interim president and CEO for nearly a year in 2004.

John Matessino, president and chief executive officer of the Louisiana Hospital Association, applauded the Blue Cross board of directors’ choice.

“With all the things that are going on right now in the state, with health reform activities and the budget cuts, I think it’s good to have somebody coming in … that has some familiarity with what’s going on,” Matessino said. “I don’t think this is a good time for them to have brought somebody in where there was going to be a big learning curve.’

Blue Cross is the state’s largest health insurer, covering more than 1.1 million people. In 2007, the latest financial information available, the company had gross income of $1.95 billion and net income of $66 million. Blue Cross employs 1,600 people.

In a news release, Blue Cross board chairman Brent McCoy said no one is more familiar with the company’s customers, providers and Reitz’s skills and familiarity with the company made him the right choice.

Reitz, who began working at Blue Cross after graduating from LSU, and his father were both at the company for a year. Blue Cross bought the land where its corporate offices now stand, 5525 Reitz Ave., under the elder Reitz’s administration, and he spoke at the company’s announcement ceremony Wednesday.

“It’s very special to me to be able to follow in his footsteps and continue down the path he started years ago,” Mike Reitz said in an interview, “and that multiple administrations continued.”

Reitz said his immediate goal for the company is to continue to make sure Blue Cross members understand that the company wants to be their partners in health care.