Not a benefit

We must assume that UPMC spokesman Paul Wood is paid a lot money to spew out lies regarding his employer (Feb. 17, “Cancer Driving This Choice”). He states that consumers have benefited from the “heightened competition” among local health insurers, stemming from UPMC’s all-out attempt to destroy its competitor Highmark. All around the area, people have been forced to make agonizing, life and death decisions because of UPMC’s attempt to be the only game in town. Most people don’t see that as a benefit.

Dollars that UPMC makes from Highmark insurees have the same value as dollars from any other source. The obvious agenda is to force everyone out of Highmark and Allegheny Health Network facilities, as was happening to the couple in the article, as well as the couple’s employees. It is a pure money grab by a corporation that is supposedly a nonprofit (with all the tax breaks it receives at everyone else’s expense). This obvious greed means that governments must reconsider how they define nonprofits. In its howling greed, UPMC should not be permitted to hide behind that label.

HOWARD SCHMITT

Green Tree