Catholic-school teachers in bind over health care
A drastic change in their health care coverage has left local Catholic-school teachers with a massive headache.
Archdiocese of New York workers are caught in a dispute between United Healthcare and the Montefiore Health System, with the two sides fighting over reimbursement rates for treatment as some 1,000 instructors in the Bronx and Westchester and Rockland counties are forced to look far and wide for new in-network doctors.
“A lot of people were hung out to dry,” said Donna Emener, 55, an archdiocese teacher since 2006. “This is really about choice and convenience . ... I find this to be very heartless by the two of them. We’re collateral damage. You couldn’t wait to work this out? In the middle of a pandemic?”
According to the teachers, their health care options were dramatically slashed once the UHC/Montefiore agreement expired Dec. 31. In its place came complaints that appointments in a familiar doctor’s office were replaced by trips to crowded, hard-toreach city hospital clinics.
The teachers are not alone, as some 60,000 United Healthcare customers were affected by the spat.
Colleague Marie Nangel, 65, recalled dialing a phone number on the UHC website in search of a new primary-care physician. “The address says Bronxdale Ave., but it’s got a 920 area code,” she said. “The operator says, ‘Miss, we’re in Wisconsin.’ You can’t make this stuff up.”
The problem is particularly acute for teachers who typically walk or take mass transit to a local doctor’s office, but are now forced to pay for car services, taxis or Ubers on top of their monthly co-pay.
“We’re left holding the bag here, we really are,” said Joanne Perotta, head of the teachers union. “This is a dispute that Montefiore is having with UHC. And our teachers are left without coverage.”
The two sides issued dueling statements, with each pointing a finger at the other.
United Healthcare New York CEO Michael McGuire said negotiations were continuing, adding that Montefiore rejected UHC’s latest offer and expressing concern for the teachers and others forced to find new health care options.
“Our members are our most important concern,” he said. “We understand this is a city where people don’t drive and rely on public transportation. We are aware they need doctors in their neighborhoods. We offered Montefiore a very fair contract. This type of increase would go right to the pockets of our members.”
Montefiore responded with a pointed statement leveling similar charges.
“We recently offered United a new proposal based on the terms of our last contract to restore in-network access to our hospitals, doctors and services immediately,” said the Montefiore statement. “United rejected this offer without offering a counter. We are deeply disappointed United continues to put profits over patients.”
Neither of the teachers put the blame on a single entity for the problem, though they hope for a quick resolution.
“The two of them picked a very bad time to do this,” said Emener. “That’s really the bottom line.”