Note: this letter to the editor was published in the November 17, 2020 edition of the Toledo Blade.
Recently The Blade reported that ProMedica Healthcare Systems is once again headed to court due to alleged anti-competitive behavior.
Prioritizing profits over people is a pattern of behavior for the health care giant. I stand with McLaren St. Luke’s in their fight, because I know what it feels like to have my own community hospital in ProMedica’s sights. I have witnessed the havoc ProMedica has caused to the University of Toledo Medical Center through the 2015 Academic Affiliation Agreement with ProMedica Healthcare System.
As the old saying goes, “Where there is a will there is a way,” and ProMedica seems hell bent on taking over the Toledo health care market by any and all means.
Because of the COVID-19 crisis, people are already scared to get the routine care they need. My neighbors and family deserve to have multiple options for medical care across the northwest Ohio region, rather than having to settle for the only provider available. A major public health crisis is not the time to make patients find a new doctor.
Having a variety of options helps foster competition and keep prices down for consumers. The courts stopped ProMedica from creating a monopoly once, and they can do it again. However, they must act quickly before thousands of families in the Toledo area loose access to the medical provider they prefer.
TERESA FEDOR
State Senator, District 11