Monday, January 20, 2025, 2:46AM |  21°
MENU
Advertisement

Letters to the business editor: 5/4/04

Letters to the business editor: 5/4/04

Blue over Blue rate boosts

I would like to alert the 11,000 residents of Western Pennsylvania who are contract holders of KeystoneBlue Individual HMO policies that Keystone Health Plan West Inc., a Highmark company, is coming after their wallets again.

   Write us

To submit a letter or an essay for consideration for The Private Sector, please send it via e-mail to Business@Post-gazette.com or via regular mail to Post-Gazette Business Section, Private Sector, 34 Blvd. of the Allies, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15222. Please include your telephone number, municipality and return address for verification.

Advertisement
  

On Feb. 19 Highmark filed for a rate increase of 15 percent. This was not published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin (a twice-monthly, Pennsylvania state sanctioned newsletter of notices, regulations, etc.) until March 5. From the published date, the interested parties have 30 days to object.

But Keystone Health Plan West Inc., a Highmark company, did not notify us until March 25, when it sent us our bills. The bills arrived the first week of April, thereby using up the 30- day period for objections.

This HMO product first came out in 1996. Since then, the rates have gone up in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003. If this new rate is approved, the premiums will have doubled in seven years. This rate increase will raise an additional $6.6 million annually for Keystone Health Plan West Inc., a Highmark company. Highmark has $2 billion in the bank. How much is enough? Furthermore, since Highmark is closing all of its primary care centers in the Pittsburgh area, it will be saving additional millions of dollars.

Everyone can send a written objection to: M. Diane Koken, Insurance Commissioner, Bureau of Accident and Health Insurance, Pennsylvania Insurance Department, 1311 Strawberry Square, Harrisburg, PA 17120 and cite: Keystone Health Plan West, Inc., Rate Filing of Feb. 19, No. 1-DPHMO-04-KHPW.

Advertisement

LARRY GRUMET
Squirrel Hill


New pilots team has integrity

Now that the PG has given such press coverage to the faction of the pilots union that was voted out of power and has spread its version of doom and gloom, I hope that you will entertain another viewpoint and give it the same press coverage.

First, the negotiating committee that was recalled/resigned needed to be replaced for many reasons, all of them valid. They had been in that position far too long, since 1997 approximately, and had grown far too cozy with management's negotiating team, taking management's positions almost automatically, and ridiculing any segment of the pilot group that dared to question or disagree. Additionally, they continually gave and gave and gave without getting anything in return for the valuable parts of the pilot's pay and benefits that were given away.

The letter from which you quote so liberally in your article ("US Airways pilot split worsens," April 14), is nothing more than an attempt to discredit the excellent men who have replaced them in an effort to get their old positions back and to ensure the failure of the new committee from the start. It's power and politics, nothing more, and the fact that they want to avoid returning to fly the line under the conditions that they have created at any and all costs. The Air Line Pilots Association national union and Duane Woerth, its president, are tacitly supporting this effort because any change in the status quo is seen as a threat to the flow of dues money to support the organization at the national level.

They are not much interested in the lot of the individual pilot beyond that.

Contrary to what the letter would have you believe, this pilots group and the Master Executive Council (composed of locally elected ALPA representatives) have been fatally divided for years because of cultural differences arising from the late 1980s mergers of PSA and Piedmont Airlines. Management has used this against us very effectively.

Additionally, disagreements are present in every pilots group and always will be. Negotiating committees, among others, have been replaced in times such as these since negotiations have been taking place between pilots and airline managements. It is not Armageddon. It's normal.

Regarding the new members of the negotiating committee, far from being the inexperienced men that they are being painted, they have a long history of ALPA work, including negotiations; are very able to handle the task at hand; and are exactly what is needed at this point in time.

They have a fresh outlook and are active line pilots with a sincere determination to find a solution to the company's problems that will be mutually beneficial to the pilots group and management, not the one-sided agreements of the past.

Lastly, they have integrity.

US Airways' problems are first and foremost a management problem. To be precise, no US Airways management since deregulation has earned the vast amounts of dollars they have been paid by coming up with a business plan that has US Airways actually competing with other airlines in the marketplace.

And don't blame labor. We have made more than our share of sacrifices and today could work almost for free to no avail.

Former chairman and chief executive officer Seth Schofield and former executive vice president Randall Malin put Southwest on the map by pulling out of the West Coast in one day and wasting the $800 million paid for PSA.

Former chairman and chief executive officer Stephen Wolf, former president Rakesh Gangwal and former executive vice president Lawrence Nagin completely stopped managing the company after the United merger was announced (in May 2000).

Former chief executive officer David Seigel and company have extracted from everyone via concessions and bankruptcy, [but] have yet to come up with a viable business plan.

I hope that [this letter] will be published to give voice to the silent majority of long-suffering employees at US Airways.

JAMES R. WAGNER
Pilot, US Airways
Moon

First Published: May 4, 2004, 4:00 a.m.

RELATED
Comments Disabled For This Story
Partners
Advertisement
Russell Wilson #3 and Justin Fields #2 of the Pittsburgh Steelers warm up prior to the game against the New York Giants at Acrisure Stadium on October 28, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1
sports
Gerry Dulac: The Steelers are looking for direction and purpose. How will the roster look in 2025?
President-elect Donald Trump, center, and former first lady Melania Trump, center right, with family members, arrive at Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., on Jan. 19, 2025.
2
news
Trump’s Day 1 plans poised to impact Pennsylvania on energy, immigration
Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin stands on the fields during a time out while playing the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pa. The Philadelphia Eagles won 27-13.
3
sports
Joe Starkey: Steelers, Mike Tomlin missed a golden opportunity when the Chicago Bears called about a trade
Donte Jackson #26, Minkah Fitzpatrick #39, and Damontae Kazee #23 of the Pittsburgh Steelers warm up before a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on December 15, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
4
sports
Let's plan the Steelers' 2025 offseason: Cut, trade or keep
A bobcat in the snow.
5
life
Wild, wild life: Mink’s snowy escapades, fisher and bobcat caught on camera in Murrysville
Advertisement
LATEST business
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story