The following is a letter to the Editor of the Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, IN) on November 19, 2020.
The May 9, 2019, New York Times included an article headlined “Many hospitals charge double or even triple what Medicare would pay.” The opening sentence singles out Parkview Health of Indiana as a hospital system that charges private insurance companies about four times what the federal Medicare program paid for the same care, according to a study released by the nonprofit RAND Corp.
Fast forward to November 2020. The 13,000+ employees of Parkview Health System are notified that, as a result of the “rising cost of coverage,” Parkview Health is adopting a working spouse rule. This dictates that spouses of Parkview employees who are eligible for their own employers’ health plan are excluded from coverage under Parkview’s plan.
The hypocrisy of this scenario is indefensible. For Parkview to cut eligibility for its group health plan, citing the rising health costs to which they disproportionately contribute, is ludicrous. To do so during an unprecedented global pandemic is immoral at best.
Time for Parkview to reevaluate itscommitment to its mission of “Not for profit, all for you.”
John Rumpz
Fort Wayne
View on the Journal’s website (3rd article on the page)