UPMC and Highmark will have another agreement expire (Pittsburgh, Freedom: renting, health insurance)

[gg]

This could effect a lot of people. I think the medical industry needs government intervention. The citizens of our region should not put up with all this greed from two tax exempt companies! Does anyone know who to contact to file a complaint? Is there a judge that could step in? What are the steps to either make these companies start paying taxes, or provide services to the citizens that are subsidizing them.

Here is an article about it. I personally lost my doctor and I would love to start some crap with both of these companies. Been even thinking of renting a billboard just to vent!

If hospitals can pick and choose who they see, they should NOT be tax exempt! Shame on these doctors going along with all of this as well.

With two years to go, Highmark and UPMC disagree on how their nasty divorce will end | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[JoeP]

what a mess.

[gg]

Originally Posted by JoeP

what a mess.

I just don't get no one responding to such a thing? Lost. I guess this didn't effect anyone here? I lost my doctor of 20 years due to UPMC's CRAP/GREED! Seems I am alone on that.

I am tired of these massive for profit companies like UPMC NOT giving to the community, yet they get a by on taxation! I can't go to my doctor anymore, yet my tax dollars are being used to subsidize them? Are you kidding me?

No one cares I guess. I would love Amazon to say, sorry Pittsburgh you are a great choice, but your hospitals are fighting amongst themselves instead of healing the sick! That would be GREAT! UPMC is one horrible company and we sure didn't get very lucky having those POS's dominating our area!

[eschaton]

My two cents are that, as was the case when it started, it sucks donkey balls, but what are the alternatives?

Most of the people I've talked to seem to long for the "good old days" when UPMC and Highmark essentially conspired together and had monopolies on their respective portions of the local healthcare industry. How this kerfluffle happened, IIRC, was that UPMC asked for some exorbitant rate increase for Highmark enrollees (double digit increases in one year), Highmark said no, and so UPMC said fine, Highmark enrollees can no longer use UPMC. The alternative would have been Highmark agreeing, and still more expensive care in the area. Instead UPMC unveiled cheaper health insurance, and Highmark bought out Allegheny Health Network and there is a small (but cheaper) network of providers as well. So even though we don't have the level of choice we did in the past, two competing networks have resulted in prices coming down a bit.

[gg]

Originally Posted by eschaton

My two cents are that, as was the case when it started, it sucks donkey balls, but what are the alternatives?

Most of the people I've talked to seem to long for the "good old days" when UPMC and Highmark essentially conspired together and had monopolies on their respective portions of the local healthcare industry. How this kerfluffle happened, IIRC, was that UPMC asked for some exorbitant rate increase for Highmark enrollees (double digit increases in one year), Highmark said no, and so UPMC said fine, Highmark enrollees can no longer use UPMC. The alternative would have been Highmark agreeing, and still more expensive care in the area. Instead UPMC unveiled cheaper health insurance, and Highmark bought out Allegheny Health Network and there is a small (but cheaper) network of providers as well. So even though we don't have the level of choice we did in the past, two competing networks have resulted in prices coming down a bit.

This is a very good description on what happened, but I would expect nothing less from you as you are a great contributor here as always!

I do need to get a primary care doctor as I do have health issues, but part of me just figures I will drink it off.

[guy2073]

I got my market place renewal letter today, my premium is going up $402 a month, I am sick of everything healthcare. I don't understand how the state capped the rate increase at 30 some percent but my rate increases 100 percent. Then they make it harder on their customers by taking away their choices.

[Brutusbuckeye1]

This is the problem with a local economy mostly dependent on people going to the hospital. Nearly 50,000 people employed by UPMC and Highmark. Those hospitals employ thousands. This of course is a fight over money and power. Imagine if universal healthcare happened. How many hospitals would close in the Pittsburgh area? Probably a good bit. It would collapse the local economy. That’s the problem with putting all of your eggs in one basket. Just how we did with steel back in the day. Youngstown was never be the same.

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by Brutusbuckeye1

This is the problem with a local economy mostly dependent on people going to the hospital. Nearly 50,000 people employed by UPMC and Highmark. Those hospitals employ thousands. This of course is a fight over money and power. Imagine if universal healthcare happened. How many hospitals would close in the Pittsburgh area? Probably a good bit. It would collapse the local economy. That’s the problem with putting all of your eggs in one basket. Just how we did with steel back in the day. Youngstown was never be the same.

Universal health care would be a paradigm shift that would take at least a generation for the US economy to adapt to. Unfortunately, Ohio seems like it would be hit even harder than PA:

https://www.kff.org/other/state-indi...:%22desc%22%7D

[Brutusbuckeye1]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

Universal health care would be a paradigm shift that would take at least a generation for the US economy to adapt to. Unfortunately, Ohio seems like it would be hit even harder than PA:

https://www.kff.org/other/state-indi...:%22desc%22%7D

Oh there is no question Ohio would be hit hard. It is highly invested in the medical industry as in PA. However Pittsburgh is an Ed’s and meds economy as their primary employment base. Medical costs are through the roof due to frequent hospitalization. I read that Pittsburgh has more hospital beds for a city it’s size than anywhere else, including Cleveland. These hospitals make up the largest employment Chunk of the local economy. The only way they stay open is admitting sick people and making money off the insurance company and consumer. If people do regular checkups and doctor visits, hospitalization drops because people are healthier with preventative care. Thus it would be a good thing for public health but devisatating to the Pittsburgh economy because you would probably only need a third of the hospitals you have. Universal healthcare would dismantle Pittsburgh and any other city mostly invested in hospitals for employment base.

Highmark and UPMC are fighting like mad to keep this revenue. Whoever has more hospitals has more power and can charge whatever they want. That’s why they are fighting most of the money and jobs in Pittsburgh are tied to health care and hospitals. The consumer is going to pay dearly for this battle.

A lot of the liberal posters I’ve read on here want free healthcare and free college. If both become universal it may be better in the long run but Pittsburgh’s economy would totally collapse. It would be worse then than it is now. Like steel all over again.

It needs to diversify the economy and move past Ed’s and meds as the primary employers

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by Brutusbuckeye1

Oh there is no question Ohio would be hit hard. It is highly invested in the medical industry as in PA. However Pittsburgh is an Ed’s and meds economy as their primary employment base. Medical costs are through the roof due to frequent hospitalization. I read that Pittsburgh has more hospital beds for a city it’s size than anywhere else, including Cleveland. These hospitals make up the largest employment Chunk of the local economy. The only way they stay open is admitting sick people and making money off the insurance company and consumer. If people do regular checkups and doctor visits, hospitalization drops because people are healthier with preventative care. Thus it would be a good thing for public health but devisatating to the Pittsburgh economy because you would probably only need a third of the hospitals you have. Universal healthcare would dismantle Pittsburgh and any other city mostly invested in hospitals for employment base.

Highmark and UPMC are fighting like mad to keep this revenue. Whoever has more hospitals has more power and can charge whatever they want. That’s why they are fighting most of the money and jobs in Pittsburgh are tied to health care and hospitals. The consumer is going to pay dearly for this battle.

A lot of the liberal posters I’ve read on here want free healthcare and free college. If both become universal it may be better in the long run but Pittsburgh’s economy would totally collapse. It would be worse then than it is now. Like steel all over again.

It needs to diversify the economy and move past Ed’s and meds as the primary employers

I agree on all accounts. Hospital bed reduction and either site-neutral reimbursement or strict management of site-of-care are highly likely in a universal healthcare situation. This would bring revenues way down and also reduce the number of facilities and reduce the opportunity for physicians and hospital managers to arbitrage reimbursement schemes.

In addition, the role of the insurer in universal care would be dramatically reduced to supplemental coverage status unless the universal system was modeled after Medicare Advantage or Managed Medicaid. Both of those programs have hospital reimbursement rates that are far below what traditional employer-based and individually obtained policies pay.

In short, a lot of money would start to fall out of the system, potentially buoyed by the aging boomer population and the desire for increasingly complex and expensive solutions to health issues.