UPMC’s irony of ironies

It’s just all part of an unconscionable plan

At first glance, it may seem the ultimate irony: UPMC’s legal maneuver in federal court to force the Blues insurance plans from across the U.S. to do business with UPMC in Pittsburgh when UPMC doesn’t want to play with the Blue that lives in its very own backyard.

But it actually makes sense for a profit-driven corporation with no moral compass:

Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance plans in Alabama and elsewhere don’t directly compete with UPMC’s own health insurance plans. The Highmark Blue plans do. Additionally, UPMC knows well that patients come from far and wide for the qualilty of UPMC providers and facilities. UPMC doesn’t want to relinquish any of those dollars. It’s willing to turn away local patients who subscribe to Highmark insurance because it’s part of a bigger cost-benefit strategy: Local Highmark subscribers are expendable in UPMC’s effort to grind into oblivion Highmark.

And that’s why UPMC sits in smug comfort in its aerie above the city believing it just can’t lose. Their plan certainly seems solid: While Highmark and Allegheny Health Network nip at UPMC’s heels, the true titan of health care tightens its stranglehold on the region. Think about it. It owns dozens of health care facilities, including premier, worldrenowned hospitals. It has its own insurance plans and steers those subscribers to sister facilities. It accepts nationally branded health insurance plans, including BCBS (except, of course, the local one). It’s the largest employer and largest landowner in the region yet enjoys the nonprofit privilege of not paying property taxes. Its empire has benefited from millions upon millions of dollars in support from charitable foundations and bighearted, hardworking Joes — the same people who have been forced to change doctors or insurance plans because UPMC won’t do business with Highmark.

Nauseating.

That’s why Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has filed suit against UPMC in Commonwealth Court, essentially trying to force UPMC to act like the mission-driven charitable organization it claims it is in its annual 501(c)(3) tax filing. Mr. Shapiro worked two years to mediate an agreement between UPMC and Highmark and while Highmark agreed to play ball, UPMC took its marbles and went to court. There, UPMC one-upped Mr. Shapiro, filing a federal suit contending the state’s top prosecutor has overstepped. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, contemplate this sickening tidbit: UPMC’s analytics show that for every news story written, every editorial published, every public display of dismay with the pending June 30 split, UPMC licks its rapacious chops as people become more convinced that they simply can’t do without UPMC’s providers or facilities.

UPMC just can’t lose. Or so it would be appear, though some appearances deceive. Time will tell.

Decisions may be emanating from the top of the 64story U.S. Steel Tower but the people behind those decisions are as nearby as the grocery store, the soccer field, the church and synagogue. They are our neighbors. Reach out to them.