La Gov.'s health insurance chief resigns

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The chief executive officer of the health insurance office for Louisiana employees and retirees is resigning after receiving strong criticism from lawmakers about his work to help privatize office operations.

Scott Kipper’s resignation as head of the Office of Group Benefits comes as Gov. Bobby Jindal faces complaints for his proposal to hire an outside contractor to run one of the office’s state worker health insurance programs. Kipper’s decision also follows a stormy confirmation hearing last week during which senators accused him of withholding information about the privatization effort.