Is this an ethical transaction?
A small group of insiders in a private Eugene company that managed medical services for low-income Lane County residents made about $34 million when the company sold last year to a large out-of-state buyer, documents obtained by The Register-Guard show.
For-profit Agate Resources owned and ran Trillium Community Health Plan, which oversees the Oregon Health Plan in Lane County, using federal and state government money to provide health care for about 94,000 low-income residents in Lane County and 2,000 in Douglas County.
The sale has been controversial because of concern that Agate held onto government Medicaid money to make itself attractive to a buyer, instead of spending more aggressively to provide doctors and medical services for Oregon Health Plan patients.
Early last year, 13,000 Lane County OHP patients did not have a primary care doctor. The problem wasn’t fully resolved until a year later.
Centene reported in its latest annual report that it bought Agate in September for $109 million. Agate shareholders divvied up that cash, according to the sale plan documents obtained by The Register-Guard.
Eleven Agate executives and directors became millionaires over night, the documents show. They include Chief Executive Officer Terry Coplin, who received the biggest single sale payout, of about $5.7 million, and Chief Financial Officer David Cole, who received about $4.2 million, the sale documents show.
Agate Resources insiders made $34 million on sale of company that used public funds to provide health care to low-income Oregonians | Local | Eugene, Oregon
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