Healthcare >> CEO Interviews >> September 13, 2002
STEPHEN E. BABLITCH joined Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin
('Blue Cross') and United Wisconsin Services, Inc. ('UWS') in 1996 as
General Counsel and Vice President. He became General Counsel and Senior
Vice President of Cobalt Corporation when UWS combined with Blue Cross
in 2001. Since August 2000, Mr. Bablitch has been responsible for
overseeing four medical group business units, the Northwest and
Southwest Regions of Blue Cross and two of the Company's HMOs, Unity
Health Plans Insurance Corporation (Madison) and Valley Health Plan,
Inc. (Eau Claire). In 1999, Mr. Bablitch was assigned the responsibility
of leading the conversion of Blue Cross from a not-for-profit company to
a shareholder-owned insurer and then merging Blue Cross with UWS. The
conversion and merger were completed in August of 2001. Cobalt
Corporation is now one of three publicly traded Blue Cross and Blue
Shield Plans in the nation. From 1991 to 1996, Mr. Bablitch was a
partner in the law firm of DeWitt, Ross & Stevens in Madison, Wisconsin,
where Blue Cross was one of his principal clients. Mr. Bablitch began
his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in Madison,
Wisconsin, working under James E. Doyle, now Wisconsin's Attorney
General. In 1986, then-Governor Tommy Thompson appointed Mr. Bablitch to
head Wisconsin's correctional system, the state's single largest state
agency. Mr. Bablitch served in Governor Thompson's cabinet as Secretary
of the Department of Corrections until 1991. Mr. Bablitch graduated from
the University of Wisconsin'Madison with distinction in 1976. Mr.
Bablitch attended the University of Wisconsin'Madison law school and
received his Juris Doctor (JD) in 1979. Mr. Bablitch currently serves on
the following boards: The Board of Directors of HospiceCare of Dane and
Rock Counties; The Board of Trustees of the Nature Conservancy'Wisconsin
Chapter; and The University of Wisconsin Law School-Remington Center
Board of Directors. Profile
MICHAEL E. BERNSTEIN is Executive Vice President of Cobalt Corporation.
He is also President of CompcareBlue, an HMO subsidiary of Cobalt
Corporation. As part of leadership changes announced at the annual
shareholders meeting in May 2002, Bernstein will be named President and
Chief Operating Officer of Cobalt Corporation following the retirement
of the current CEO and Chairman, Thomas R. Hefty. That retirement will
occur by the end of 2002.Bernstein has been with Cobalt and its
predecessor company since 1987, when he was first employed as a
corporate staff attorney for Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of
Wisconsin (BCBSUW). Early in his career, Bernstein supervised the
operations of the Compcare HMO and network management for both Compcare
and BCBSUW. He oversaw the acquisitions of the Valley Health Plan in Eau
Claire and Unity Health Plan in Madison. In 2001, he was assigned the
responsibility for turning around the company's health insurance
operations in its largest market, metro Milwaukee. As President of
CompcareBlue, Bernstein has overseen an aggressive reorganization of the
HMO resulting in a smaller but healthier company. He recently assumed
responsibility for the Blue Cross business in metro Milwaukee, as well.
Bernstein left BCBSUW in the mid-1990s to become Senior Vice President
for University Health Care in Madison, Wisconsin. While associated with
UW Health, Bernstein helped negotiate and complete the merger of two of
the largest medical groups in the state. He was named Executive Vice
President of UW Medical Foundation in 1998, the largest Medical Group
Practice in Wisconsin and one of the top 10 clinics in the country. He
left UWMF in early 2000 to assist in the successful completion of the
conversion of BCBSUW to a for-profit entity and merger of that company
with United Wisconsin Services, Inc. Bernstein currently serves on the
Boards of Make-a-Wish Foundation and the University of Virginia Health
Services Foundation. Bernstein was educated at the University of
California, Davis and earned his law degree at McGeorge School of Law in
Sacramento, Calif. Profile
Mr. Bablitch: Cobalt is one of the three publicly traded Blue Cross &
Blue Shield plans in the country. We are in
