Thank goodness Erlanger CEO Kevin Spiegel (himself the beneficiary of a $234,669 bonus this year and a 10 percent pay raise next year) cut out retirees healthcare, thereby saving $1.2 million per year.
Yep, $1.5 million savings on the backs of the folks that spent their whole working life making sure every patient was well cared for is a legacy that must make Kevin Spiegel proud, especially this quarter, when profits are $12.7 million. Just think, if he hadn't cut healthcare benefits to retirees, they would only have made a paltry $11.2 million. That's just chicken feed.
It's one thing to eliminate healthcare after retirement to new hires, or even existing employees falling under a certain total years of service, but it's dishonest and unforgivable to make cuts that were promised to current retirees, specifically while giving bonuses to upper level administrators, none of which ever lift a single finger to give a shot, empty a bedpan, or otherwise make a patient feel comfortable. Almost as shameful are Roy Exum's constant accolades of Erlanger's new management style.
It's embarrassing and sad that we treat these former employees health care as nothing more than an "expense" that needs to be eliminated. As CEO Kevin Spiegel said, "We just can't afford it anymore, or provide it anymore." Yes, after seeing this quarter's numbers, I totally understand.
Herb Montgomery
Chattanooga