Editorial: Big paychecks can be bad look amid health care struggles
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In 2020, Highmark CEO David Holmberg saw his paycheck dip.
This isn’t surprising. Plenty of people made less money in a year when the coronavirus pandemic turned everything — especially health care — upside down.
There will probably be little sympathy for Holmberg, however, as his $325,000 loss still let him receive $7.82 million.
IRS filings showed other Highmark executives edged up or down a bit. Just a hundred thousand dollars or two here or there. Nothing serious when you are playing at the seven-figure level, right?
Highmark’s numbers are comparable to UPMC’s, which makes sense as the nonprofits are the big dogs in Southwestern Pennsylvania when it comes to the medical industry and local share of the job market. UPMC CEO Jeffrey Romoff made $9 million in 2020, which included a $430,000 increase over 2019.
The issue with this isn’t the money. Highmark reported $18 billion in revenue and $450 million in earnings in 2020. For UPMC, it was $23.1 billion in revenue and $1 billion in earnings. Successfully shepherding that kind of operation obviously comes with significant compensation, and it should.
The optics, however, are a challenge. Health care workers have had a rough year. For those on the front lines of covid-19 treatment, there has been danger from the virus itself. Others have struggled with demands of vaccination. The pandemic has stretched workers to the breaking point as recruiting employees, especially in nursing, has proven more and more difficult.
Hospitals became the new steel mills when medicine became the major industry in the region. While they may seem very different, they have a lot in common, including the universal nature of high-paycheck executives at the top and a base of the employees facing the fire.
The difference is that steel production could move away. It is impossible to outsource heart surgery and emergency rooms. However, that requires the executives from the health care organizations and the employees to not be adversaries but partners because they depend upon each other.
The CEOs from UPMC and Highmark earned their millions. It is important that they remember their teams extend beyond the corporate suites.