City of Pittsburgh cutting ties with UPMC

7,900 City of Pittsburgh Employees to Insure

7,900 employees who work for the city of Pittsburgh will find out soon who their health care provider will be for the up and coming year(s), however they already know that it will not be UMPC. According to Paul Wood, spokesman for UPMC,
said, "UPMC decided not to bid. We did not believe we could get a fair shake from the current administration." Currently, the City of Pittsburgh is with Highmark as their healthcare provider, but that soon may change. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “starting in 2008, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration decided to go with a single provider, Highmark Inc. The three-year contract would save the city $17 million over the duration, the mayor's office said at the time, because the Pittsburgh insurer offered a pricing discount in exchange for the guaranteed book of business.” However, there has been no confirmation yet that they will be renewing with Highmark.

With Health Care Reform set to begin on January 1^st, the carriers are fighting hard to keep as many people on their books as possible, but in Pittsburgh we have an extra skirmish thrown in the mix. The unsettled heated contract between Highmark and UPMC will play a major role in the City of Pittsburgh’s choice for their health insurance carrier. According to UPMC’s board of directors, “[UPMC] does not plan to enter a new contract with Highmark when the current deal between the two expires at the end of 2014.” This “divorce” would prevent city employees from using UPMC hospitals if they continued to stay with Highmark, thus preventing access to hospitals such as UPMC Shadyside and UPMC Presbyterian.

Judy Hill Finegan

Highmark and UPMC are not the only two health care providers in Western Pennsylvania and Highmark is not the only company competing for the city of Pittsburgh’s business. Aetna and HealthAmerica, who recently merged, have put in bids for the city’s health plan. Also, Aetna and HealthAmerica have paid the outrageous fees to contract with UPMC hospitals, which would allow uninterrupted network availability to city employees. However, according to Judy Hill Finegan, director of the city’s Personnel and Civil Service Commission, “We’re not limiting ourselves, [quality care] is an issue for our families. It’s an issue to our employees.” City Concilman Bill Peduto, the Democratic mayoral nominee in the November election and current favorite to replace Mr. Ravenstahl in 2014, will be faced with a unique situation if elected in November. However, when asked to comment about the 2014 city health plan he said, “ he couldn’t comment…until he meets with the city’s personnel department sometime in the next two weeks.”