Hospitals: We may think of them as benign entities, pillars of the community. But this documentary sheds another light on an industry blamed for helping to inflate the skyrocketing cost of health care.
Director Sandra Alvarez hones in on Pittsburgh, where a nonprofit hospital system, the largest employer in Pennsylvania, wanted to stop accepting insurance from a competitor, sending patients, some of whom were battling life-threatening cancer, scrambling for other sources of care.
We meet some of the ill people and politicos who fought to save the status quo -- "Because of...greed, people are going to die" -- while most of the medical establishment in the drama declined to be interviewed for the documentary, leaving the viewer wondering why.
We learn along the way that multibillion-dollar nonprofit hospitals don't pay taxes, and their CEOs can earn upwards of $5 million a year. We also find out about increasingly common hospital mergers and consolidations that reduce competition and can drive costs higher.
The film was screened as part of the Meaningful Movies series, and featured a Zoom appearance by Ms. Alvarez, who clarified during the Q&A that folks on traditional Medicare can visit the hospital of their choice in Pittsburgh, a point that would have benefited from clarification in the film.
I grew up in Pittsburgh, and enjoyed seeing pleasant perspectives of my hometown, particularly scenes of the Point, where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers converge, and the Incline climbing Mount Washington.
Ms. Alvarez noted that a bipartisan effort is afoot that could give the Federal Trade Commission oversight of nonprofit hospitals' consolidations. I'm now interested in where that might lead.
Director Sandra Alvarez hones in on Pittsburgh, where a nonprofit hospital system, the largest employer in Pennsylvania, wanted to stop accepting insurance from a competitor, sending patients, some of whom were battling life-threatening cancer, scrambling for other sources of care.
We meet some of the ill people and politicos who fought to save the status quo -- "Because of...greed, people are going to die" -- while most of the medical establishment in the drama declined to be interviewed for the documentary, leaving the viewer wondering why.
We learn along the way that multibillion-dollar nonprofit hospitals don't pay taxes, and their CEOs can earn upwards of $5 million a year. We also find out about increasingly common hospital mergers and consolidations that reduce competition and can drive costs higher.
The film was screened as part of the Meaningful Movies series, and featured a Zoom appearance by Ms. Alvarez, who clarified during the Q&A that folks on traditional Medicare can visit the hospital of their choice in Pittsburgh, a point that would have benefited from clarification in the film.
I grew up in Pittsburgh, and enjoyed seeing pleasant perspectives of my hometown, particularly scenes of the Point, where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers converge, and the Incline climbing Mount Washington.
Ms. Alvarez noted that a bipartisan effort is afoot that could give the Federal Trade Commission oversight of nonprofit hospitals' consolidations. I'm now interested in where that might lead.
