Naming Rights n@Our mayor has displayed an infuriating habit of plastering his name and likeness on anything and everything Pittsburgh. Whether it moves or not, whether it’s animal, mineral or vegetable, whether he was involved or even born at the time ….Mayor Ravenstahl proudly slaps his name and/or likeness on the object in question. The Garden Theatre’s new marquee, bearing his name and therefore implying his accomplishment, is just the latest example. The City’s fight with the Garden started back in 1989 and by my calculations, the mayor was just 9 years old at that time. Hardly old enough to impact dealings with the Garden one way or another.
So it was with great surprise that I read today's Post Gazette article about Mayor Ravenstahl’s coup in securing a cost-saving, single-provider health insurance and wellness plan for the city. He is to be heartily congratulated; this is really good work. But I’m confused by the name of the wellness plan. It’s called “City Fit – Wellness at Work” and I’m stunned the mayor didn’t insert his name here as well. “City Fit – Ravenstahl at Work” would be more in keeping with the mayor’s proprietary attitude toward our city and everything in it. And besides, his name seems more appropriate here than on the Garden’s marquee display.
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I have been posting on the need for a new city health plan for a while (which I’m quite sure had no effect on anything). It seems like it would have been an ideal Peduto/Dowd sort of issue. No matter, it opens up the concept and gives whatever reformers are on council something to look at in a couple of years, something to revisit and re-evaluate.
Two side notes. When I worked at Highmark (when it was still “Veritas”), they had a similar wellness program for employees. Because I participated I received $50, and when I lost weight and brought my health into a certain set of parameters, I got another $50. Spread out over a year, but hey, it was enough to get me to get serious about my health … for a while. Personally, I would like to see the city’s new health plan get even more aggressive than Veritas’ old plan, or what was described in the PG.
And we should brace for the howls from the unions. They are losing their choice for health insurance providers. Will not sit well (though I think anyone who has health insurance from Health America ought to feel like people who have internet service from Telerama).
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