Allegheny County Controller Chelsea Wagner will hold a series of public meetings on the split between UPMC and Highmark, she announced this week. She has invited representatives of the health care and insurance giants, as well as local officials and members of the general public, to attend.
The meetings are set for: Monday, Feb. 4, 6:30 p.m., at the Carnegie Library of McKeesport; Thursday, Feb. 7, 6:30 p.m., at the Community College of Allegheny County South campus, in West Mifflin; Sunday, Feb. 10, 3 p.m. at the Northland Public Library in McCandless; Tuesday, Feb. 12, 6 p.m., at the Kingsley Association in Larimer; and Monday, Feb. 18, 6 p.m., at the Coraopolis Borough Building.
“The UPMC-Highmark dispute has many faces and voices, and they need to be seen and heard to encourage those with the ability to make change to act,” Ms. Wagner said in a press release. “I urge everyone with a personal story of how this crisis has affected them to attend a meeting and share their experience."
Consent decrees between UPMC and Highmark will expire on June 30, she noted.
A website created by the controller's office, HealthcarePGH.com, includes a petition to Gov. Tom Wolf, Attorney General Josh Shapiro and the General Assembly, asking them to step in and force the two companies to treat each other's hospitals as in-network for their insurance plans.
First Published: February 1, 2019, 7:56 p.m.
