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ktxhopem3276 t1_j5i759j wrote

The report was discussed last week in another post

TLDR upmc grew super fast to control 60% of hospital beds in the area and they should be broke up to a more reasonable smaller size.

Im a little surprised that in Pittsburgh $15 is no longer a floor for wages and $18 in 2025 will also be too low with inflation. I wonder if upmc provides better health insurance for employees than other service jobs. Do other hospitals pay more than UPMC? I’ve heard the nursing pay is low. They probably need a union to get paid better.

I don’t think they should lose non-profit status because if they make hospitals pay taxes, we will all pay in the end through higher hospital bills

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ExpertExpert t1_j5idiwx wrote

> I don’t think they should lose non-profit status because if they make hospitals pay taxes, we will all pay in the end through higher hospital bills

fuck this. they should pay their share

edit: or at least do non-profit things like actually help people (for free)

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ktxhopem3276 t1_j5jup1r wrote

They would pay $50 million in property tax while canceling the $1billion in free services so that’s not a great trade off. Better solutions are break them up and unionize

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blondecomet t1_j5mhi1r wrote

So, unionize and make us pay ridiculous union dues? I just don’t see the benefit of unions in the healthcare sector. But, I’m open to listening to your ideas about it.

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ktxhopem3276 t1_j5mmywi wrote

Unionized workers almost always make more even after paying union dues. Some unions provide a lot of training so dues are high but that’s not going to be an issue for upmc employees

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ScratchMoore t1_j5iku8o wrote

I can’t speak in generalities, but specifically in my case, my ex wife was a UPMC nurse. My operating engineer union healthcare is better than her healthcare, and I have UPMC healthcare.

I’m glad I have good healthcare, but the fact that it’s better than what their actual nurses receive is fucking lunacy.

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Peterthegreater-87 t1_j5jara2 wrote

The fact that employee upmc health insurance is its own extremely restrictive category is way to close to the "company store" model. Pay is ridiculous, we can't keep even doctors for too long because of it. The model is profit over people squeeze the most out of one person before thinking of spending money to hire more

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ktxhopem3276 t1_j5jtkzu wrote

The model is get big so they don’t get pushed around by out of state for profit insurance companies.

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ktxhopem3276 t1_j5jtajc wrote

I understand union health insurance is better than non union. I’m curious how UPMC health insurance compares to other jobs. I’ve worked in tech and employees are well paid but the health insurance is usually expensive high deductible plans which really stinks if you have a chronic health problem. Does a nurse at UPMC get better or worse health insurance than an accountant at PNC or does a minimum wage worker at UPMC get better insurance than a minimum wage worker at giant eagle or eat and park?

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69FunnyNumberGuy420 t1_j5jzlul wrote

I work for UPMC on the insurance services side and the insurance is pretty good, they cover an incredibly expensive injectable my wife takes for a chronic disease. I've got no complaints.
 
In general health insurers cover what the policy holder asks them to cover. If your insurance doesn't cover much, you can talk to your HR department about it because they set the terms.

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tesla3by3 t1_j5iap9j wrote

I get that. UPMC will cover the taxes by increasing their income. But a lot of that income comes from outside the city, outside the county, outside the state, heck, outside the country.

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ktxhopem3276 t1_j5jtw6p wrote

Property taxes would be on a county and township basis. They don’t make profit because they spend any excess money on new buildings so there is no profit to tax.

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tesla3by3 t1_j5jx6jr wrote

So ...

City residents pay property taxes to the school district.

UPMC does in fact make "profit"(revenue - expenses). In 2021 they had "excess money" of $843 million. A good bit of that money they invest in other companies.

UPMC finances the construction of new buildings by issuing bonds.

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ktxhopem3276 t1_j5jxk25 wrote

They would probably find a way to rework their accounting to zero out excess revenue if they were subject to income tax. Does any entity besides the state have business income tax?

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tzeriel t1_j5j9hux wrote

I used to work out of the union hall for various contractors. Then the government. Now UPMC(still union luckily). UPMC has not only the worst insurance of anywhere I’ve worked at, but the most expensive.

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ktxhopem3276 t1_j5judz0 wrote

The strange thing is they have the best plans on the public insurance exchange. I’d be curious how their employee plans stack up to other non union employers. Most non union employers have put the rising costs of health insurance solely onto the employee over the last twenty years. If they want better pay and benefits they should probably unionize

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kailsbabbydaddy t1_j5k7zjx wrote

The full year I worked at UPMC and paid for UPMC insurance is the most I’ve ever paid for healthcare in my life. I didn’t even see a doctor once that year.

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