Health Inequality

Devastated with this really damaging choice done to us who don’t deserve this outcome — and to never be given a choice is just another smack in the face.

United is a despicable company that many reputable healthcare providers do not accept here in Chicago. And with VERY good reason. They are a WELL KNOWN to deny basic human needs despite us paying for those basic human needs to be met. It is so horrendous that the literal CEO of the company was hunted down because of it. And under the shadow of that outcome, we’ve been ushered to have our healthcare be decided by a monstrous, conniving corporation.

Blue Cross Blueshield is the preferred insurance — ESPECIALLY here in Chicago. Because we know that when we go to get our contributions recognized, they are recognized. And those results are even worse when the patient is a woman.

No company is perfect, and healthcare in America is broken, but United is a rusty blade.

People who give their time and energy and patience and value and dedication to this university are being treated like fodder. It’s just unacceptable behavior by leadership. If such a massive and horrific change was even being considered, they should’ve had the backbone and moral clarity to actually ask how we the people who actually do the work of making this university operate how we ought move forward. But instead they let some salesman bait them into a rotten deal for every single person at NW. Why? Why be so terrified to not just give us a voice to help decide our own health outcomes? And pretending that there was some dramatic long term deficit is an objective falsehood. It wasn’t that long ago that the university was so far ahead that they actually allowed a month where we didn’t have to pay insurance at all.

This is nothing more than weakness and panic because of an authoritarian regime putting pressure — and the slimy, snake of a company managed to use this moment of uncertainty to cause an overreaction. And it was done under cover of night without any feedback.

Morale hinges entirely on perceived value. The persons working at NW have no question of the value of their work, but these actions are a direct assault on the experience of that value. It makes work harder to do. It makes advocacy harder to strive for. It’s the real and palpable outcome of what betrayal causes.

United healthcare causes more people to die and suffer than the alternative. It particularly causes more women to die and suffer than the alternative. This isn’t debatable. This has been exhaustively studied. A choice would’ve been nice. Perhaps opening up a dialog with some of the best minds in the country working at this very university might’ve arrived at a better and more ethical outcome.

I hope those in positions of power lent to them seek to in the future undo this poor decision. And I pray that in the interim the the people who make NW function and matter don’t suffer the pains and bitter rejections caused by this decision.

Northwestern has long justified underpaying its staff by offering great benefits like top-tier healthcare and tuition discounts and HR boasts the "total compensation statement" each year. The change to UHC - a notoriously subpar provider not accepted at many local healthcare centers - along with the hiring freeze and 0% raise is incredibly insulting. Northwestern is asking its staff to do more work for less - no chance of promotions because of the freeze, no additional pays even if employees are doing the work of multiple positions, and now more out-of-pocket costs for healthcare (with shitty wages). We should have at least been given the option to retain BCBS or NU should have pursued a comparable insurer. Local institutions like DePaul, Loyola, and UofC use BCBS or Aetna. How are you going to retain staff now with your gold shackles, NU? Funny how the school can find money for its capital projects like the new Ryan Field, Allen Center, etc. and "leadership" wages (we provide residences for the President - WHY?!) but never for staff well-being. I have worked at this school for almost ten years and can no longer see a future here. What a tremendous slap in the face.