HARRISBURG, April 9, 2015 – A bipartisan group of state legislators from western Pennsylvania released the following statement today in response to the announcement that UPMC does not intend to renew the Medicare Advantage contract with Highmark customers:
“UPMC has broken its promise to seniors in western Pennsylvania. They made a promise to our seniors, and now they are purposely using our seniors to create leverage against Highmark to gain an advantage in a financial dispute. Their actions are unconscionable. UPMC was warned by the Attorney General, Insurance Commissioner and Secretary of Health that such tactics would constitute a breach of the carefully crafted consent decree. They disregarded that finding and are now sticking it to our seniors. Totally unacceptable,” said Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny.
Rep. Jim Christiana, R-Beaver, said, “It’s truly unfortunate that the devious scare tactics and anti-patient behavior continue, this time at the expense of some of our most vulnerable citizens. UPMC is now threatening to hold hundreds of thousands of Highmark Medicare Advantage customers as hostages just to gain some legal standing. Rest assured, we will be monitoring this developing issue and will support our seniors in any way we can.”
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, said, “The communities that I represent are tired of being held hostage by the actions of UPMC, which continues to engage in practices that clearly call into question its profit-driven motives and its status as purely public charity. The cancellation of the Medicare Advantage contract threatens to leave 180,000 seniors without access to their health care providers. I am committed to working with my colleagues and Governor Wolf to finally bring much-needed clarity and certainty to this dispute.”
Sen. Randy Vulakovich, R-Allegheny, said, “UPMC should quickly move to reinstate this contract so that seniors in Western Pennsylvania are not placed in the middle of this ugly, ongoing dispute. This behavior is totally unacceptable and has gone on far too long, causing mass confusion amongst my constituents and shedding a negative light on the region in general.”
###
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Rep. Frankel: Ben Turner
717-787-7895, bturner@pahouse.net
Sen. Costa: Stacey Witalec
717-772-2368, switalec@pasenate.com
Sen. Vulakovich: Melissa Farabaugh
717-787-6538, mfarabaugh@pasen.gov
Rep. Christiana: Abbey Haslam
717-260-6222, ahaslam@pahousegop.com