Published: August 08, 2009 08:54 pm         

TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORIAL: Assessing the fallout from contract battle

Now that the dust has settled, and thousands of customer-patients of Union Hospital and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield have exhaled, it might be beneficial to assess the losses and gains of the contract dispute that held much of the Wabash Valley enthrall.

The negatives are easy to spot: Neither Union Hospital Health Group nor Anthem did much for its public image during the months-long contract fight. The insurance giant will suffer fewer after-effects of the rancor because, unlike Union, it is not a foundational institution of our multi-county community.

Union Hospital is a vital element of life here. Its role and impact on all of us, with or without health coverage, are much greater than the insurance services it provides to patients through companies such as Anthem. With its $185-million expansion near completion, the hospital is one of a handful of heavyweights among us. Union offers too many important services, programs and joint ventures with universities and state and federal government to allow itself to ever again get sidetracked as it did during the dispute with Anthem.

Fortunately, the contract fight ended as it should have. Although the terms are secret, a deal was struck to keep the hospital “in network” of its largest private insurer. Surely, when this sort of disagreement again materializes, with Anthem or another insurance provider, Union Hospital Health Group executives will think twice before playing the game of public hardball they chose to play with Anthem.

Even though stress-related illnesses might be good for a hospital’s bottom line, we know it was never Union’s intention to make its customers sick with fear and anxiety. But that is what happened as the hospital played patients off against Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. No more, OK?

Among the positives to emerge from the ordeal is the opportunity we all had to learn a lot more about the breadth and complexities of the health care industry and about our specific coverage. As the national debate over this issue intensifies, that knowledge should serve us well and help us become smarter health care consumers.

Also, given the competitive health care environment here, Terre Haute Regional Hospital found itself in a precarious position. Regional handled the situation professionally, providing service, input and information without exploiting the public’s fear and uncertainty for its own narrow interests.

Another plus is a bit ironic, but still useful for the future. The prospect of losing access to Union Hospital and its myriad services reminded many people in the Valley just how much we look to the facility for help. We expect it to be there, to treat us and to take our insurance, be it private, Medicare or Medicaid — and, as the county hospital, to do the same for the uninsured.

Which brings the assessment to one last item. Union Hospital Health Group may have seemed like a corporate monolith during the months of contract battle, but it is, in reality, a collection of human beings working to keep their friends and neighbors healthy and to care for them when they’re not. Nurses, doctors, physician assistants, technicians, aides, orderlies, business staff, cafeteria crew, custodians and an all-volunteer board far outnumber executives.

These hardworking people make up Union Hospital, and they are health care consumers, too. While it might be natural for the rest of us to harbor some resentment over the long, ugly fight between Union and Anthem, the higher road is to focus on these neighbors and friends who are charged with our well-being. It’s time to move on.