UPMC is no charity
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UPMC is not a tax-exempt charitable organization, as it claims. UPMC has made every effort to be the only hospital system and health insurance company in the tri-state area by buying up every hospital possible in the Pittsburgh area, by trying to stop the insurance customers of its largest competitor (Highmark) from using UPMC facilities and doctors, and by trying to monopolize all of the private medical doctors' and chiropractors' offices as UPMC associates.
In addition, last year I was sent by a UPMC affiliate to UPMC St. Margaret complaining of shortness of breath. A day and a half later, after one overnight stay in the hospital, one dinner, one breakfast; two lunches; five tests (one of them a walk up and down the hall with a nurse), I was sent home with a $17,000 bill completely paid for by Medicare and Highmark and a diagnosis of ... shortness of breath!
With UPMC President and CEO Jeffrey Romoff's $6-million salary and 22 other UPMC executives each making more than $1 million a year, I really do not think UPMC qualifies as a "charity."
JIM HUCKESTEIN
Gibsonia
First Published December 10, 2012 12:00 am
