The Greediest 'Non-Profit' Hospital in America
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- Опубліковано 7 сер 2024
- A recent survey found that 36% of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center workers are in medical debt to their employer.
UPMC is a healthcare giant. It employs more than 92,000 people, has an operating revenue of roughly $26 billion, and as a “non-profit”, it’s technically supposed to provide affordable healthcare to the people who need it most.
But its flagship hospital recently made headlines for being the least charitable non-profit hospital in the country.
In 1969, the tax code was modified so that a hospital didn't have to pay taxes as long as it was “promoting health.” Charity care" became optional.
So Vikas Saini and his colleagues at the Lown institute decided to take a closer look at just how far some non-profit hospitals have strayed from their original mandate of giving back. They looked at over 1,700 nonprofit hospitals nationwide and calculated what they call the “fair share” spending for each. If a hospital took more money in tax breaks than it gave back to the community, it had a fair share deficit.
Meanwhile, UPMC’s former CEO made $12.9 million in 2021. In total, top executives raked in $225 million - more than double what UPMC spent on charity care that year.
That’s enough money to keep hundreds of rural hospitals open, or to cancel the medical debt of hundreds of thousands of patients.
In just the last ten years, UPMC has grown from 12 hospitals to over 40.
Understaffing is pervasive at UPMC - and it’s only become worse as the hospital has gained more and more market power.
In May 2023, a coalition of unions filed an antitrust complaint with the Justice Department, accusing UPMC of using its market power to harm workers.
Three quarters of nonprofit hospitals are getting more in tax breaks than they’re spending on communities. That’s enough money to cancel the medical debt of 18 million Americans.
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"The Amazon of healthcare" sounds like one of the most dystopian sentences I've ever heard.
It certainly describes the quality of healthcare today.
Bring your own bottle as restrooms are an expense we won't cover. 🙄
Amazon has a health insurance plan already... Hopefully they compete with the overpriced crap!
Who am I kidding, price fixing has already happened.
Agreed
right like the way he said that without batting an eye…. guillotine immediately 😵💫
"Non-profit" hospitals have adopted the "For-profit" model and they are able to do it because of how the laws were written by the lobbyists.
Well let's be honest, many charities are not actually charities anymore. Look into Goodwill industries for example, or just about any mega-church and you will find them to be extremely profitable.
@@brianh9358 See!
this is why “NonProfit” and “Charities” are MEANINGLESS now!
Non profits are wolves in sheep clothing. Original laws regarding them need to be OVERHAULED!
@@BluePatriotWinner I don’t think it would be possible under Capitalism, because the Game is Rigged from the start!
@ComradeRagdoll under pure capitalism maybe , but under mix economic it could work out, the trick may lay in having this non for profit file a report detailing, where ever dollars goes and these reports be publice record.
It’s wild how many people STILL think that not everyone deserves healthcare.
I swear every time I bring this up with friends and family they respond with a "there isn't enough enough Healthcare to go around already, imagine if everyone got it! " like there aren't other problems that also need to get fixed.
I keep arguing that when we agree to create a "society", and we all agree that everybody pitches in to pay money to help cover benefits for everyone, the FIRST thing to spend it on, aside from the very basics of infrastructure, has got to be staying alive and alleviating suffering. If you pitch in a large chunk of the money you make every paycheck, and you still risk dying or getting thrown on the street if you get a regular treatable illness... What the hell were you even pitching in all that tax money for?
Im not american, but from south asia now living in western europe.
But let me tell you having public healthcare alone will not fix the issue but there are other aspects that needs to be figured out like shortage of doctors and having good healthcare culture to have robust medical system.
Countries like Canada have public healthcare but it fails to meet the demands due to shortage of enough supply of doctors.
In some countries like Netherlands and Germany, there is bad work culture in the healthcare system that doctors will ask you to google your symptoms and do and pre diagnosis on your own
But ironically my third world nation seems to have enough supply of doctors that seems to have figured out everything (but healthcare infrastructure is sometimes backwards)
Who has healthcare? Even insured people can't afford doctor visits because insurance covers so little.
What the Problem is most Americans don't understand that the United States is NOT a Democracy. We live in a Corporatocracy. Corporations and Wealthy Elites bought up the U.S Government at an accelerated rate over the last Forty Years through Their massive Campaign Donations to Republicans and the Corporate Democrat Politicians. While They All Gaslight Us along with the Help of Our Corrupt U.S Corporate Media and Cable News Companies. The United States has become the Biggest Socialist Country in the World. It's Socialism for the Rich and Neo-Capitalism for the rest of Us. It cost more out of Your Pocket to live in the United States if You're Poor!!!
UPMC is so evil. They move into small areas, aggressively expand, and ruin local care.
Which is yet another reason why free state-funded healthcare is so important. Private healthcare is forced into reasonable prices.
If you want medical care, CHI Franciscan is now the only hospital game in town for non-military patients. They've also expanded into clinic and primary care. It's a shame because their billing department and customer service are absolutely horrific, and I can't threaten to leave and go to a competitor because there aren't any.
@shionyr tell me about it, I had a darn covid stroke, MRI, CT scan etc, and my total cost with CHI Franciscan was under a grand.
and it took months of weekly phonecalls just to get my bill and finally make the payment almost a year later.
meanwhile they tried to bill me for an auto accident for half a year *after* the check was delivered by my auto insurance, but they hadn't cashed it.
On the other hand thier care was top notch. Sadly, I do not live anywhere near any of thier hospitals anymore.
Although this does make budgeting easier, I simply have no cash to spend at all.
Everyone deserves the freedom to buy health insurance. If you can't afford healthcare then that equates to society not valuing what you contribute to society. You don't have money because no one gives you money because you don't do anything useful.
@@JohnForTheWin healthcare is a right not a privilege. It doesn't matter what you "contribute to society" everyone deserves healthcare. Saying someone doesn't contribute enough to afford or deserve access to healthcare is elitist and gross.
I'm embarrassed that UPMC is even remotely connected to the University of Pittsburgh. Shame on them!
Well they now make Pittsburgh’s tallest building their corporate headquarters. I wouldn’t be surprised if UPMC ends up owning that 64 story office tower.
Well I have news for you then because MOST universities in America are a part of the problem. They’re in bed with the crooks
Not having a public healthcare system in our country is already insane, but "company towning" it too is absurdly evil
Being indebted to your employer is the nightmare that our predecessors fought to escape from and corporations are doing everything in their power to bring it back
@@christinagore-dj3dq Unions were the alternative to dragging the bosses family out onto the street and shooting them, they either work to prevent the need to do that or they dont.
@@feelinghealing3890Not many left that even remember or was told that's a thing. Nowadays everyone would die to protect that Boss's family while being fucked over by them.
@peter- While I agree the abuse of the tax code is absolutely crazy but national healthcare has been proven that it isn't the whole answer either as the UK struggles to hire enough healthcare workers Canada's system was shown to be to small cut COVID so maybe it a compromise is in the order.
That's because this isn't a socialist society sweetie.
Healthcare is devolving into monopolies that squeeze employees at one end because they are the only place you can work, so no competition you could go to for better pay. They squeeze patients for higher fees because there is no place else for them to go for a better price either. And all the money goes to multimillion executive pay. Which is why we need to nationalise healthcare. Retrain the army of clerks who fill out insurance forms and give them skills that help people.
You think healthcare is bad now….. just get the government involved it’s sure to be much worse. They are already overloaded in clinics and hospitals with people that won’t pay and are not even citizens.
I don't disagree. But also remember some of the people doing insurance filing are ones who can't do what they planned to do in the medical field. I know more than 1 nurse or nurses aide that wrecked their bodies providing nurses care and now billing, legal, and insurance handling is how they earn an income. You won't actually decrease the operational staff as all claims,Bill's, and care has to be allocated and paid for under a single system. In, for example, Britain people take the NGS for granted and systemic underfunding has meant patient quality of care, access to providers, and reinvestment and development is stymied by the bureaucratic process and limitations of balancing care and research. A model more akin to Singapore is what I can see overcoming America's healthcare challenges. While it still means the rich pay more, there are limits to provider salary but also kick backs in research, personal committment to health, and overall funding development and planning which means Singapore and Germany and Switzerland don't have morbidly obese people with lower education, poorer outcomes from seeking healthcare, and generalized access to standard care for emergencies and life long care needs. The NHS is great but it is not as bullet proof or as well thought out financially and interpersonal as some sort of individual health insurance with minimum income and mandatory coverage guidelines. Systemically if there are fewer insurance providers and more people paying into th he system with administrative costs kept at a living wage, then things are equal and people will recieve the care they need.
@@L05-td6qm Monopolies are an issue, deregulating it will result in even more monopolies. Without competition, prices surge.
@@L05-td6qmExcellent idea if you want a disaster of epic proportions the likes of which you can't even imagine.
@@L05-td6qm free markets in the health industry is how we got to where we are now in the first place
A family member needed a surgery, and it didn't go great, but the hospital had the gall to constantly solicit us to make donations to the hospital despite us paying our bills
Well, if you paid your bills, obviously you had money the hospital didn't, so they needed to try to acquire it by whatever means they could without providing you any services. Duh!
That reminds me of Morton's Fork, A taxing practice in 15th century England. If you looked wealthy obviously you could pay the king; if you didn't look wealthy you obviously had saved your money so you could pay the king. Either way, they were going to get your money.
That's the USA system for ya
I NEVER give a Dime to Children's Hospitals of America. The Pigs permanently disabled my only Child. AS a Credentialed Practitioner, They killed to many of My Patients... enough said.
Insurance Companies and Doctors at HOSPITALS are all in the Cash register Medicine together. US Government, proves this information by allowing it
America's health system is SICK! Insurance and hospital executives profiting off humans health should be illegal. There should be limit, and any excess profit should be reinvested to the health system. It's despicable that the benefits from all the effort put into medical advancement is blocked behind an unnecessary paywall for most US citizens.
It was illegal until bribes...er I meant political financial campaign contributions were made to the law makers. Corporations own the government.
Why even run healthcare for profit? Afaik healthcare should be a basic human right.
@@nil981 American would be saying its communism , oh no my tax money is going to raise
That's what happens when the govt. refuses to enforce it's own anti-monopoly laws for 40 years.
@@GravaticBurst THAT’S Capitalism; UnFortunately!
The salaries of those CEO's are absurd. This whole thing is a shame.
CEOs are often sitting on other Boards of Directors. Some of those Directors sit on their CEOs Boards. They all scratch each other's backs.
I really do not understand why any CEO needs to make more than the President of the United States.
@@juresichj Many of the CEOs salaries are obscene. Their Boards of Directors decide the salaries and other goodies simply because they can. The Directors also get big salaries and bonuses. College football coaches and professional athletes all get paid more than the President of the United States. Evidently, you get what you pay for.
@@punothebear No, you get what you are able to extort, or what your buddies collude to provide. Power corrupts.
The whole system is a giant con, and the working man is the mark.
No executive at a charity should earn more than 10 times the lowest paid worker. That UPMC CEO is a parasite, pure and simple
Yes! This! 1000x!!!
Non-profit and charity are two different things. Non-profit is a tax avoidance policy that in no way requires a entity to operate as a charity. As long as they use up all the money they get, even if it goes to executive pay and investors, they can call themselves non-profit. Charities actually have to use some of the money for charity.
As someone who's worked in multiple parts of healthcare, it truly sickens me how much of your healthcare has caved to greed and sociopathy instead of care and healing.
Mafia went legit in Canada and entered health care systems ... Mafia is still being rewarded for turning Italy on itself in WWII
*_When Charity becomes a Business, then there is no such thing as Charity anymore_*
JUST LIKE OUR AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES - so-called non-profit. That simply means its primary mission statement is some type of service: higher education, medical care, etc. In reality, the status allows it to pick up subsidies, while still saddling customers with major debt.
They've bought up a lot of our town and the homes of those who've used them.
Excellent Observation!
You reminded me of when I had just graduated from undergrad and had student loan debt and was taking out even more student loans for grad school and I started getting calls and emails from my university asking for donations.
Our universities are being deliberately taken over by business people thanks to Republican scum.
Proposal: any hospital whose patients are in medical debt (even one) for over three months loses its nonprofit status for five years.
Then you will have hospital try to reject troublesome patient someway. Or there will be less procedure. Why should they risk themself if they not get enough reward
@@princecharming7535 hospitals are legally obliged to help in the US. The issue is that there are no cost/price controls like in other civilized countries.
@@princecharming7535 You say that like they don't do that anyways. Try having no health insurance or one that doesn't cover the doctor/hospital/care you get. They'll only stabilize you and release you, all while leaving you with the bill. And that's if they decide to allow you to stay and not ship you to another hospital or clinic.
@@visiwade true they legally should treat patient but they will not do it with full heart some doctor or nurses when they do treatment that not making money or on minus will get scold from management things will not going good. Also hospital will try to find loopholes to dump patient like that. Or worse if they can't dump hospital maybe close ( some group will buy hospital and then begin selling it's assets)
I think price if usa healthcare are too much
My current country you just need to pay $2 a month for healthcare if you can't pay. You can apply for government to pay that for you (you need some card to say that you are too poor to pay though). So I don't understand why usa have like $1000 a month insurance.
That CEO showed he didnt care about the wirkers or patients. He got his 😡 way past time ALL CEOs are forced to live paycheck to paycheck, as we do. Not their exorbitant ones, but the janitors paycheck for a year, with no credit cards and nothing to fall back on. They do no work but get all the glory 😡😡
We need a modern day Robinhood
Amazon of healthcare is the scariest thing I've heard in a long time
Eh, I say _let_ the CEOs have a couple of credit cards on $50,000/year, run up debt *_if they choose to,_* and they will continue to live on $50,000/year until their cc debt is paid off.
The Salary of the CEOs of tax-exempt hospitals are obviously excessive, given the tax breaks they receive. But a solution to that problem could be to tax the nonprofit hospitals as if they were for-profit hospitals.
Living in PA my whole life, I've always known about the corruption of hospitals with UPMC. I didn't realize how big of an issue it was nation wide
They also own the hospitals in the southern tier counties of New York particularly Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Allegany Counties.
The entire board of UPMC should be in jail.
At least named and pics shown
So this tax change in 1969 has had some really bad side effects. Why is it so hard to say...this isn't working so lets change it back? We need to hold officials accountable.
Politicians are errand boys for their donors, we don't matter.
Because the tax change was intentional for the benefactors not the masses.
People believe absurd tax theories like trickle down economics.
Because it works great for the ones making the rules.
Remember Reagan, its not about being fair to all it's about the freedom to make profit.
Neoliberalism trickle down economics is a scam.
My mother has worked for UPMC for many, many years. Over the last few years her health has deteriorated and, due to a rare condition, she's experiencing a myriad of neurological issues with a high fall risk. She's fallen several times in the last few months and I am terrified and doing everything I can to futureproof her home. UPMC pressured her to go back to work before her diagnoses and essentially dropped her after. They refused to move her to a WFH position (the woman still wanted to help people, even in her struggles), they fought any doctor-recommended work accommodation (their own specialist's opinions!) and she was forced out of her job. She's recently had to take out of her retirement just to pay bills until her painfully slow disability process completes.
They wiped their hands clean of her with no care whatsoever. She was such an asset and still could be if they'd even been the least bit accommodating for someone they've already criminally unpaid and squeezed the life out of for years
Sounds about right. This is why you can never be loyal to a corporation of any kind, your forced to be an economic mercenary. Take care of your loved ones and f*ck the system wherever and however you can. Good luck.
I love it when the CEO says his pay is determined by the board.
Just wish the interviewer had asked him how many other CEOs from other companies sit on that board.
and it was negotiated
12.9 MILLION dollars in 2021. Who the heck NEEDS 12.9 MILLION dollars in _one YEAR_ ??? 12,900,000 divided by 365 (days in one year) equals over 35,300 dollars PER DAY. Not workdays of Monday through Friday (which might apply to CEOs, but not healthcare workers), but ALL 365 DAYS IN A YEAR. Thirty-five THOUSAND dollars per day, EVERY day of one year. I live in Pennsylvania, in the Pittsburgh TV station viewing area. PA doesn't have a _very_ high COL compared to the states of New York, Virginia, and Maryland (and possibly NJ, but I don't know enough to say), especially outside of the larger PA cities. I'd _thrive_ on 35,000 dollars in one YEAR, BEFORE taxes!!!
That man is grossly obscene.
Well the board are his pals and he is on other boards. U scratch my back
Also, chances are that he also sits on that board, so yes, he probably gets to choose his salary.
This information and this channel needs to reach more people! Solidarity is how we can make this country better for the working class.
Why does America screw over it's citizens? Time and time again we get the short end of the stick and have to pay for it. It makes my blood boil! Nobody cares enough to help those who need it and deserve it and i'm chronically ill my self it's hard. I have to worry about possibly paying for some thing i know i could never ever afford
we need to take out the .01% over here is what needs to happen...
Because your politicians are bought and paid for by blood sucking capitalistic corporations. Any talk of helping people is quickly drowned out by screams of “communism” or “socialism”. You Americans have been brainwashed into supporting the very parasites who screw you over time after time after time…
Because we live in a third world shithole.
This isn't just in America, it's an increasing phenomenon all over the globe as of my response. As far right governments are popping up, those countries are scaling back their healthcare systems in favor of profit-driven insurance companies.
Yet my buddy drinks beer under a tree and cuts grass for cash. Doesn't pay a single nickel for health care.
In the USA you can be insured, have access and STILL not get healthcare because the medical community is geared toward profit and sales FIRST & LAST. As a retired (very early) provider myself, I am continually amazed at just how bad our system is and it’s getting worse every year as the malfeasance builds upon itself like a snowball rolling at record speeds! New grads haven’t even been taught to think at all. They’re just taught to follow profit protocols and have ZERO ETHICS. The truth is pretty scary.
Kaiser is probably the worst of the lot of them. Never have I seen a more dirty, poorly run, and exploitative institution. And they're both the hospital AND the insurance, so they screw you over on both sides.
Edit: z->s
ANYONE in the USA that profits from insurance and / or 'healthcare' denying claims and / or service and which causes people to die, are profiting from murder, that includes bondholders, shareholders, etc...
UPMC does have its own insurance, too
Sutter Healthcare system based in Sacramento, CA has tried to become the new "Kaiser" of California. They have been buying up hospitals and clinics for the past 5 years or more.
Not only this, but UPMC also buys up small town hospitals, depletes their capabilities, and sends the patients to the mothership hospital to extract more profit from them.
Capital Extraction is a product of Capitalism that WILL ALWAYS have Catastrophic SideEffects to the Labourers who DON’T OWN The
Means Of Production, especially Hospitals.
Sorry if I’ve gone Full-On Marxist for a sec.
This is what happens in a country where health care is an exorbitant luxury and whether you live, die or live healthily Is based on your zipcode, race & income.
you are 33% right. the only thing that matters is income.
Oh no, different zip codes have different toxic pollution levels. The worst being redlined into minority only areas.
This is the bad place.
And it may only be the exact same thing if nationalized healthcare becomes a thing and a rogue government only affords it to citizens of particular ethnicities.
@@carrieullrich5059 No area in todays world is minority only in the us, you can live whereever you want.
I am an RN and l have worked in various hospitals throughout the country over the past 30 years. These so called non profit hospitals are all about their profits. Staffing shortages are detrimental to the workers and the patients. Our health care system is very broken. We need nationalized healthcare for all Americans.
nationalized healthcare isn't going to solve any of these problems, the government is just as greedy and lazy as private companies.
Perhaps health reductions are more necessary. A return to Robitussin is in order.
@@genuineappeal3458what is a health reduction?
@@genuineappeal3458tf is a health reduction? You saying if someone has intense sudden chest pain they should just take a Tylenol and lie down? That’s how people DIE.
And if you only care about the economy, kinda hard to have an economy when everybody’s DYING or too disabled to work
Just so we define what an American is and stop wasting resources on illegals.
Hey! I work there! It’s actually even worse in person somehow. I’m IN a strong union and we’re still underpaid and understaffed. UPMC is too large for even a powerful union to properly push back on.
Jesus. 😒
Mafia runs these unions. Freemasons run hospitals.
the sad thing is they profit from HUMAN SUFFERING...
All capitalism does.
@@thomass2451It's designed to do just that.
Not just suffering, DEATH! Why do you think I still understand how no parent has evert gone and taken out one of these CEO's after healthcare was denied to their baby or child who then died? Since the US has no actual 'justice' system, this is the closest they will get to justice.
@@thomass2451 *whimpers* commie
How is this any different from the coal mine towns of the old days? It’s workers have to use UPMC doctors and 1/3 of them are in medical debt to their employer. So, instead of owing their soul to the company store, they owe their soul to the company healthcare
This is so messed up.
How do you get to the point where you earn an eight-digit salary while others, at the same company you're running, are suffering and falling into debt as you continue to charge them (and pay them less) ? Wow.
AND you get to say on national tv that it's your business how much you pay yourself lol.
Endentured servitude
Dude, I live in Brazil we got public universal healthcare here, it's just mindblowing to me that the US doesn't have the basics
No, it's not. Read the US Constitution: it's a document made by the rich, for the rich.
Sadly, the US (Corporations/Government/oligarchs) is all about MONEY. There's no other thought in their greedy brains... they care not one bit for 'people', in most cases even their own blood.
But it may also be mindblowing for the government to try to buy out or navigate through litigation involving the private healthcare industry.
What is the quality of healthcare like in Brasil?
@@Da__goat in terms of service it's quite alright, the worst problems are overloading and the poor infrastructure, but that's also an issue with the quantity of doctors in Brazil, that's why the government brought doctors from Cuba ( which the right can't stop complaining abou) but it's still free. I use SUS (the brazilian public healthcare system) for a few years and it's ok you just have to wait a bit long. When you don't want to wait that long you can go to a private clinic but even the private clinics are quite cheap.
My son recently had to have emergency surgery. The thing he was most worried about was the bills he would be incurring. That's a helluva way to run a "healthcare" system.
When your insurance company decides your trip to the ER was due to a pre-existing condition and you will be paying for all of it 🙂 🙃 👍🤷♂️ If you can't pay they garnish your wages and tax returns.
Another term for that is "medical history"
Kinda wild how they manipulate the terms of each and every little thing nowadays to make it sound different than what it actually is, i.e. making medical history a red flag for getting insurance to cover anything. Such bullshit istg.
@wastaken4985 I had kidney stones removed in 08 and the 58k dollar bill is still haunting me. They are all about wage garnishment. 20 or 25% in Kentucky and some other states. I moved to WA and after a few months someone was/is trying to serve me papers. They are from the anesthesiologist from 14 years ago. The intrest is more than the initial bill 😅😂😂
Covering care for pre existing conditions is required now due to the ACA. We have John McCain to thank for being the one vote needed to stop the ACA from being thrown out in 2017
It is time to prove that these are for profit hospitals. Go after the bills and threaten bankruptcy. It scares them
@@b1646717 See if the statue of limitations applies in your case. They have only so long to collect, but if you make one payment it starts the clock over again. Best to talk to a lawyer, perhaps legal services if you can't afford to pay an attorney.
My wife was having uterus issues. She got a vaginal ultrasound as part of the investigation of this issue. This was (we thought) pre-approved.
We got a letter a few days ago stating that our insurance company was not paying for the scan as they claimed it was a "work-related injury/disease" and should be covered by workman's comp.
She's a house wife.
Reading that letter was a complete "what in the fuck?" moment.
She's fine, as we figured out what was going on, but still...
in '72 i got susp license & i was not allowed to drive to work, i argued my son is my work i need to drive to doctors, grocery store..others in the courtroom had work driving privilege's w susp lic, i almost got thrown in jail on my opinion, nothing changes for women
Well as a housewife a big part of the job is keeping you happy.
The job of insurance is to take as much money from you as it can get away with.
Always file an appeal, this type of BS is often reversed when appealed. You do not need an attorney for file an appeal.
@@jamesodell3064 that process was started basically immediately after we read that letter. The agent was rather amused and setup the appeal on the claim right then.
I worked for a dystopian AF for-profit (I think) massive hospital chain, and I always heard that they would write off unpaid bills* as "charity care" while simultaneously using *aggressive* collections tactics (they literally sued me, their employee, over an $80 unpaid ED bill lol) before eventually selling the debt to a collection agency.
Sure, it's technically "charity care" in the sense that the patient didn't pay for all or part of their care. But it's not at all like good faith charity care, because the patient faces the consequences of decreased credit score, harassment by debt collectors, and *LITERALLY BEING SUED* by a massive powerful conglomerate.
True charity care is done intentionally and it does not harm the patient.
They write off the full amount, rather than subtracting the amount that they were paid for the debt via a debt collection agency (typically a very small percentage of the total debt) then they report the income from the sale of the debt. This should theoretically balance out the tax benefit with tax liability to some degree. But it allows them to inflate their reported "charity care" amounts. 5% of $25,000USD isn't insignificant, particularly when thousands of these small percentages are occurring each quarter.
*As in, a patient is admitted/seen without upfront payment via the emergency department (shout out to EMTALA btw), then they can't afford to or unwilling to pay their bill ranging from several hundred US dollars to 7 figures, so they just don't.
*AND/OR* the patient's insurance refuses to cover the total cost, so the patient is billed the remainder. As in, insurance was billed $5000USD but refused to pay more than $2500, so the patient is billed by the hospital for the other $2500 despite having surpassed their deductible/out of pocket maximum. Meaning that the patient is essentially billed that other $2500 as an uninsured patient. It's standard practice for these types of hospitals to set prices much higher in order to be able to negotiate with insurance companies and to "help" patients who can't afford to pay by decreasing the price. This hospital chain was notorious for making up prices 8-10x the typical Medicare price.
When insurance companies negotiate down to a more fair price, that's supposed to be the end of it. It's not supposed to involve the patient at all. But this company realized that they could simply bill the patient for the remainder of the original price. Thereby negating the cost-protective practice of allowing insurance companies to negotiate. Technically, patients can negotiate their bills too, but they don't make a point of really letting anyone know that.
These are just two of countless ways that US corposhit healthcare inflicts unlimited moral injury hospital and private ambulance staff at the local level.
We experience burnout just like basically everyone else. But the moral injury from being a low level patient-facing (this includes doctors) in the business of human suffering is devastating.
If anyone should be profiting off the Healthcare system it should be the doctors, nurses and the support staff
We need nationalized healthcare. And much more
We needed it 40 years ago.
• Nationalized healthcare
• Better quality public education
• A fairer and more transparent tax system
• More rights and protections for workers
• Human-centric urban development
• More frequent trains!
These are just a few of the ways our nation could do better, but the people in power don't seem to care...
. . .won't necessarily make it cheaper. I have a nurse friend who makes well over 100K a year as a guest nurse at hospitals desperately in need of nurses. Nationalizing it would mean *rationing care* which happens everywhere it's extant. No kind of health insurance can cover everything we want to have covered. It's not fiscally feasible. I get Medicaid and as I age, I assume that attrition dictates that I'll get less coverage, not more - as aging typically demands more care - care they cannot afford to give everyone in the system. I'm doing my best to stay healthy, but I know nothing is guaranteed.
@@gaslitworldf.melissab2897 It depends on the system universal healthcare. If it is like Canada or Britain's, you are correct. If it is like South Korea's or Germany's, my opinion is it won't be like that.
@@gaslitworldf.melissab2897it covers everything in Canada, and in the UK (when it’s not being fucked by austerity) and in most of Europe. There’s no reason to ration vital medicine when there are ample supply
Maybe this is an perfect example of why? We as a country need? Nationalized/ Socialized = Medical Free Care for ALL!
Take some of that miltary industrial complex money and use it for health care.....
@@christianterrill3503 💯%! A lot of wealth and profit here in Canada is also landing in the wrong hands - and not enough is going to our still critically endangered and compromised public healthcare, and public education systems.
I am a victim of private dental fraud in India. The root cause is NeoLiberalism ! I am tired of it. Guys and Girls ! Let's save mankind from this menace called NeoLiberalism !!!
medicare is so costly because healthcare businesses are allowed to set the prices, without regard to the actual production/labor costs of those medical treatments. if price controls were enacted to prevent gouging and artificial scarcity, it would not be so expensive. most of the money is just going to CEOs and shareholders anyhow.
@@coderamen666how are we funding our military then
People should realize that there was a direct and distinct correlation to the amount of Administrators added to the entire Insurance Healthcare System and the increase in denial claims for healthcare procedures.
UPMC killed my 83 year old grandmother back in 2005. She had a successful pig valve replacement in her heart that was done in 1993 or 1994 when she was 73. Fast forward to 10 years later- I don't know the whole story since I had to move away from Pittsburgh area and my family to pursue 'my American dream', but it was due for replacement because of its age since it apparently deteriorates. Rather than looking at the whole big picture of her age and health, the UPMC 'Doctors' went ahead with recommending replacement of the heart valve again with her at the age of 83. Needless to say, they didn't do a good job with the surgery and she experienced complications. I think the Doctor said that because of her age the glue just didn't work or set too well, and that he was sorry before promptly leaving the room. I got to see my #1 caregiver on life support and then passed away a few minutes later - all because the hospital had to use my grandmother for leverage to make/take it's money from her insurance source.
pig valve heart ... killed ... how can you come to this conclusion?
@@genuineappeal3458 He stated what the Dr said.
Non profit organizations are the most profitable businesses since they do not have to pay taxes.
You know what else is a non-profit organization? The National Football League. I'm not kidding.
@@ArtamStudio
WTF
This reminds me a lot of Carle Foundation Hospital in Champaign-Urbana, IL. (A town-sized subsidiary of Chicago Real Estate developers who fled down here after they made Chicago an unaffordable fucking nightmare.) They push out every other healthcare gig in town, buy it up, and then, "fuck you, pay me, what are you gonna do, die from cancer?"
The hospital I worked for 30 years recently merged with another and now operate as a greedy corporate business. Disgusting and alarming, this new method of business in healthcare needs to be stopped now!!!
I am so grateful for your reporting!!! Keep speaking up!
At least somebody is protesting.
Instead of going to church on a Sunday, the people of PA should be out protesting against this injustice.
It should also be investigated by the Justice Department. Somebody is bilking the taxpayers and Getting Away With it.
Or maybe the churches can mobilize them like they did back in the day. Anything to get the community up in arms.
Not instead of. This isn't only an "either or".
Church takes only one to two hours in the morning or evening. There’s absolutely no reason to replace social justice with the gospel nor does it make sense to suggest that people can’t attend church before protesting. Maybe it’s not important to you, but you don’t get to decide it’s not important to others.
I say rather than antagonizing people because of the religion they belong to, we organize ALL of the people regardless of what church they attend if at all.
@@Window4503 If you go for the social interaction, the church crowd marching would be satisfying, and non-profit.
What do we expect when shareholders are the same people literally writing the laws and tax code?
We shouldn’t have to fight for what we pay for. End the non-profit status of every hospital that has a fair share deficit. That ought to do it.
I tell my friends all the time that we are not doing too badly in the Caribbean when it comes to healthcare in terms of the cost. We are not the best, but we are doing ok, it's affordable for most people.
So in Mexico there's a clinic where you can get an ultrasound for under 20 dollars, maybe more now, blood test for about the same, and you get the results the same day. There's not a lot of specialized care, but still beats paying for an ultrasound in the USA.
The insurance copay or the procedure in general? I’m pretty sure that more states are beginning to pass laws involving price transparency.
@@aycc-nbh7289 it was for the procedure, no insurance.
The number 1 thing that could easily correct this, would be removing the ability for medical debt to affect credit score. If they cannot hold ruining your life over you, i think they would start charging a lot more reasonable prices, because they know a lot of people would not pay 10k for an aspirin.
we cannot just keep on making and watching documentaries at this point. we're all going to suffer further down the road if nothing changes.
Surely they are breaking the hippocratic oath (do no harm) by causing a person/family to go into debt?
I think that cases like those may involve things such as charity care.
Our OWN government is supposed to be helping all Americans by providing *access* to "affordable" healthcare and yet the USA is the one and *only* wealthy and fully developed democracy on the face of the *Earth* to still cling to a For-Profit "health"care system. The government of the *wealthiest* nation in the world cannot or *will not* cover 100% of American Citizens. Average American citizens pay state tax to provide Medicaid - a state run "health"care system for the poor but that still doesn't cover everyone.
How about taxing everybody fairly, (including the rich - really, they won't miss it - back in Eisenhower's era the rich were taxed to the tune of 91% and they were STILL rich.). We could then remove the profit factor and design a Universal Healthcare Program that could become "Medicare for all" and *cover 100% of American Citizens* and allow us to negotiate exorbitant pharmaceutical prices. It can't be "rocket science" if every other wealthy and fully developed democracy has already accomplished it. Some nations even include Universal Pre-K childcare. Imagine that.
It's almost as if our country uses our debts to collateralize the global financial system
Careful. That sounds a lot like socialism. Your politicians will never stand for that. Nor your brainwashed sheep.
You don't want "medicare for all", and the current system of hospital and other medical care being privately run and setting their own prices - which you almost cannot find out what they are in advance. If you do "Medicare for all", prices will just go up, they'll take money from the government, and copays will still get everyone in medical debt.
What we need is government run healthcare facilities, including physicians, therapists, hospitals, care homes, and so forth. No one gets paid more than what is permitted under the civil service wage scale.
We could still have private hospitals for the wealthy who want extra care, or for those who want services that are cosmetic.
@@rudra62 Well, I regret using this "medicare for all" that all the petitions want you to sign - you described what we need to a "t" and I don't care *what* they call it. :)
"why should I have to pay for someone else's healthcare?" If you've ever asked that question it means you're blessed with good health but have no ability to think ahead... Unless you die a quick death when you're young, you will eventually get sick or injured, you will grow old, and you will need healthcare when you're unable to work and pay for it on your own.
As an employee of a for profit hospital system it is just as bad there too. Executives make all the money always. C-19 made everything worse then it already was.
As long as lobbying is legal, nothing will ever change. Only the appearance of change but nothing will ever truly improve.
The amount of money being given to guys who sit on their ass all day and count money is baffling, especially when nurses and doctors are having to do out of the profession like flies because they can't afford to live and save other people. We're going to sorely miss the people who have actual medical training when they leave for greener pastures.
❤wait until you guys hear about the hospital that refuses to bill medicare so they can go after your car insurance settlement after you had a car accident.
It's illegal to bill federal or state insurances if it's due to something like an accident that an independent insurance will cover
@@HerbalAmandaL haha. Capitalism is allowed to do whatever it bloody wants. Try to stop it.
They are required to go after the car insurance settlement - you get the settlement to cover THOSE bills. OMG...that isn't free money because someone hit your car. The settlement should cover bills, a fix or replacement, and the lawyer. Duh - this isn't the lottery
@@leelindsay5618yes and no , in some states they are not allowed to subrogate 50% of your settlement. Also insurance companies sometimes they might be buying out future medical care in a settlement
@@leelindsay5618some settlements are only dependent on policy limits and bills far exceed these limits , legally u are also entitled to pain and suffering. It is not free money it was something tragic and traumatic caused to you by another party. Which is why you have the right to sue the at fault in some cases
Healthcare is a right, not a commodity
Thank you for talking about this. UPMC controls way too much of western Pa health care. They keep building Hospitals to prove they are not for profit rather than paying their workers or providing cheaper health care. If they are going to act like a for profit then they should be taxed like one
Nonprofits should have a maximum income ratio between the highest and lowest paid person.
NO medical facility should be like some huge multimillion conglomerate.
Each city should have its own, independent hospital/medical offices free from privatized money making systems.
We need CEO paycaps of some sort for "Charity" hospitals. It should also be mandatory that their executive pay should be less than their level of community care.
Proud to be a Kiwi where I have access to free doctors and free medication.
A healthy nation is a happy nation.
✌️❤️🇳🇿
Yea right, open your borders!
@michaellicavoli3921 New Zealand is two islands. What borders are those- water?
@@alexandradaniele My point, open your borders to unlimited immigration and see how great your access to health care would change.
Healthcare should NEVER be run for profit.
💯
+ Infinity.
Most of the time I worked as RN in TX couldn't get health insurance,was told to do overtime take back,be on unpaid call for low census,had one 'manager' withhold differentials to tune of $8k, deriding me for questions,then laughing when she was caught. I was at least 3rd person she did that to. Now can't go to md and have rash in 2 spots looked at in one visit. Level of care I receive after 39 yrs of nursing is mind boggling, heartbreaking
Being the Amazon of health care brings to mind overwhelming doubt in the quality of their services.
Talk about LateStageCapitalist Dystopian Irony on the Name of
“Amazon Of HealthCare”…
I graduated and started working in healthcare in 1983. This was immediately obvious to me. There was no discernible difference between non-profit and for-profit. That CEOs and other leadership with no healthcare background ran things and well-educated (Ph.D, MD, MS/BS) medical-related staff drove nothing. We were a necessary evil. The goal was to staff as "lean" as possible with no concern about patient care or good outcomes. If you layer on the huge expense that insurance brings (which I feel adds zero to providing patient care and only adds another layer of expense to pay off more exorbitantly paid executives) and the system is broken. VERY expensive and with limited accessibility for a majority with greatly reduced quality. Very little of the massive premiums people pay go toward their care, most of it props up executives and the entire insurance industry.
I had surgery last year at a UPMC hospital and am now recovering from my second surgery (at a different hospital system) to repair what was botched at UPMC. Not to mention all the bills I’m getting from UPMC! I’m having trouble finding a lawyer willing to go up against UPMC for malpractice. They are evil and no one will stop them!
I work for one of the largest healthcare systems on the west coast. We have been unionized since the 90’s and for the most part had a pretty good partnership with management. Somewhere between 2015 and 2020 the attitude started to shift. Contract bargaining became more confrontational and management wasn’t bargaining in good faith like they had been before. Quick fact… any nonprofit company has to report the profits of the senior management publicly. About the same time management started to get more stingy we noticed the CEO’s pay and bonuses increased dramatically… like from a few hundred thousand to over a million a year. And they still complain that labor costs too much and that they already pay us plenty.
Yes labor is going to be your biggest cost when you’re providing a service vs a product. That’s a given. If they wanted to cut costs they could do away with half of the management positions that are redundant. Our standby pay has remained stagnant since 2001 and the differential pay for evenings and nights are far below what other hospitals pay in this area. Just because we have historically been on the higher end of the pay scale doesn’t mean that is still true.
If you want the best healthcare professionals you have to give them an incentive to work for you vs other facilities in the area. Low pay generally leads to lower quality of work. But it’s not always just the hourly rate. Nobody should be in medical debt to the company they provide services for. It’s ridiculous.
Patients don’t care who the CEO is in a hospital. They care about who their nurse and doctor and all the other people they come into contact with are.
Our contract is up this October and so far negotiations aren’t that promising so we are all preparing to strike if we must but nobody wants to do that. Best case scenario is that an agreement can be made quickly.
Striking health care workers ... military intelligence ... free money ... some words do not flow together neatly
@@genuineappeal3458
I expect to be compensated and treated fairly just like any other profession. Just because it is healthcare it doesn't mean I have to be more altruistic and work for less compensation and benifits.
Regarding the statement that the ceo made about the hospitals board deciding what was appropriate compensation... If we are going to give favored (tax or other) status to an institution for it to serve a community, THAT COMMUNITY should elect the entire board from within it's ranks.
Capitalism isn't working for the average person.
When corporate lobbying outweighs any public opinion Democracy is a myth.
Lobbying was illegal at one stage, well it is bribery in reality.
By design.
It NEVER has.
there needs to be a law for % profits machine lowest compensation. Its crazy the amount of money the top 1% has.
Corporations control the government there will never be a law
Commenting for the algorithm! This needs to be seen
Same!
I sacrifice my words for the Al Gore's Rhythm!
Cooperatives are the most stable business-type and provide lower costs. And the workers are happier.
American Cast Iron Pipe company in Birmingham Alabama. 100% employee owned.
For some services. In case of healthcare, public university hospitals lead all over the world.
I work at a hospital that recently announced it will be merging with a major healthcare system in Wisconsin called Aspirus health. I have yet to see any reporting on them, but I hope they are better than this. We already have a for-profit non-profit healthcare corporation in town and we really don't need another one.
I like how non-profit means the owners gets to keep the money instead of the company.
It really feels like bad things need to happen to people who run organizations like this. Preferably in the legal arena, because we need to reform any system that fails to hold monstrous, exploitative sociopaths in check, but if the law is failing us in that regard, I feel like it's wrong to simply allow them to continue harming vulnerable people.
I agree. The knees of all corporate executives should be broken every month so they are constantly subjected to the hellcare system they curated.
The ones in charge never relinquish control unless there is no other option. Anytime they've made concessions, it's because there was no other option or because they figured out some way to benefit from it.
you can find their addresses real easy, if you want something done, do it.
"The best way to hurt rich people is by turning them into poor people." - Billy Ray Valentine
@@ArtamStudio i think turning them into compost is even better, but to each their own.
If you want a deep dive into the history of the evolution of the American medical system, I recommend reading/listening to "The Social Transformation of American Medicine" by Paul Starr. At 70 years old I have watched and lived the changes from my time as a clinical pharmacist, nuclear pharmacist, osteopathic physician, and radiation oncologist. The disparities of personal health care and salaries of health care workers saddens and angers me.
Oh look, an osteopath hahahahahaha
Essentially, UPMC is running the equivalent of a medical services company store, the same as the coal companies operated that kept the miners and their families in what was effectively indentured service.
I wonder if "ST. JUDE'S HOSPITAL" is following this same model...?🤔
ST Judes has $5 Billion donation dollars tied up in investments. They experiment on poor sick kids for big pharma.
Greed destroys everything.
I worked in this company through a 3rd party, and can tell you that UPMC talks a big game and says things to get the business. They had a hospital just 20 minutes from me they did a bunch of renovations too the building and made promises too the community that they would have specialists working so they didnt have to drive almost an hour to the other big hospital, and then they tried to get out of paying taxes and be exempt for property taxes...they were denied by the city since the hospital was the largest business revenue for the school district. Once they got denied for the tax exemption they decided to close the hospital as a tantrum.
Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland, OH) is the same way. As a multi-billion non-profit, they opened a hospital in Dubai. Let me say that again.. a hospital system in CLEVELAND opened a hospital in DUBAI.
Their status should be changed from non-profit to for-profit. I'm guessing they pay little or no taxes.
No, they should be changed from a tax-exempt non-profit to a fully-taxed non-profit.
It does not need to, and must not be this way for people south of the US border, or anywhere for that matter! Solidarity and victory to workers and patients fighting UPMC's nonchalant greed from Canada.
Even in Canada, we have to regularly fight against companies trying to push for profit healthcare into Canada. One of the problems with sleeping next to the proverbial 900 lbs gorilla.
@@ryuuguu01 Unfortunately, that's a huge thing that many Conservative governments and even corporations are tryign to embrace. These companies are getting more persistent, while public healthcare and the workers fighting to defend it are collapsing and stretched. Thank you for reminding me about this. I can't believe I still have to also point out that all the while, our country is truly screwed with these inept people in power, and weak opposition parties.
Stanford Hospital in California is a perfect example of how profitable a 'non profit' hospital can be.
Look at IHC Hospitals in Utah. Same issue.
Live from Pittsburgh, THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH for shining a light on UPMC and the workers rights struggles here! S/O to my people!
Extreme profit at extreme cruelty and loss. And the gain of money at the cost of priceless humanity.
the shame of not paying random bills is hilarious to me. like how hard we have been conditioned that we're really in a position to feel pain when a number shows up in our inbox. We should be just as proud as these rich people are about not paying things.
I visited my mom recently and spoke to her about how Republicans have a sticking point in their budget, that they do not want one red cent going to help pay for free lunches for poor kids, who often just don't get food otherwise
I told her about how I read a UA-cam comment from someone her age who grew up in a poor and dysfunctional home, who would go to school hungry and sometimes, driven by hunger, ask other kids for some of their food, or some money. They said that they can still feel the shame from doing this, and that idea broke my heart
My mother, who was an orphan and got to go through a much more brutal and insufficient earlier iteration of the foster care system, told me she was and still is ashamed of having had her early years funded by SSI and other state and federal funding
It really is just heartbreaking, like, few emotions are more destructive than shame, feeling less-than, they so often drive people to evil acts and even when they don't, it is just so pointless to engender these feelings in kids especially
She's not the brightest bulb and she married a republican jack*** so she herself hears opinions and weird versions of "reality" that make her feel like voting Republican is the right thing to do and it is just so disturbing to me. The GOP fear machine is so well-tuned to affect the hearts and minds of those who are a bit simpler, the very people who are hurt the most by their true ideology
Just so sad that the richest country at the richest time, we have everything we need to straight up give everyone what they need and still, capitalism would plug along by folks wanting more, and better, things
But people are tricked into doing the bidding of these super wealthy sociopaths, even when it means leaving kids hungry, leaving the sick without care, etc
Saw the title, and I said to myself "That's gotta be UPMC"... and I knew it because I live in Pittsburgh.
Remember, teeth are luxury bones.
Romoff should be thrown out of the hospital for even allowing the word “Amazon” to cross his lips in the same sentence as “healthcare.”
Ok so I’m the choir you are preaching to. And I’ve said this to other content creators. You MUST stop using questions as click bait when it comes to basic truths that invested interests are doing everything they can to hide. How is this legal? asks a question WHERE NO REAL QUESTION EXISTS. The REALITY is generations of PERVERSE INCENTIVES and NO OVERSIGHT. There is no valid question here. Have the courage of your convictions and failing that of common sense. This is an industry that considers the predictable patient deaths occasioned by understaffing as ADVERSE OUTCOMES. This industry has been telling us who they are for 50+ years. NO MORE QUESTIONS.
As international viewer USA healthcare system still amazes me about how it is so ridiculously expensive.
The greed these days is mind blowing.
The real problem with healthcare is that there is no price transparency. Do you know upfront how much it will cost? Do you ask? With everything else you buy, you know the price that you will pay before you buy it - food, gas, clothing, housing, cell phone, etc. You wouldn't buy it without knowing the price first. Yet, most people have no idea what their healthcare costs. They don't even ask. Then they are upset when the bill shows up.