America’s health care has become a business, like car dealerships, appliance stores, etc.

The main concerns of businesses are making money and cutting costs. When these things enter the health care field, they are catastrophic. Patients become numbers, not faces.

Case in point: The last Monday of January, my 76-year-old brother-in-law went to the UPMC ER by ambulance. He had a foot infection. Some time ago, he had a leg amputated.

He arrived at the waiting room about 11 a.m., had tests done, then went back to the waiting room.

About 11 p.m., they told him there were no rooms available. He took no money because he thought he would be admitted.

He waited until 8 a.m. Tuesday for Senior Services to take him home. All this time, he had nothing to eat.

Yes, he could have called one of us to take him home, but he did not want to bother anyone or be a burden.

On Wednesday, he went to the family doctor, who called the hospital and said he had to be admitted.

He arrived at the ER waiting room in late afternoon. Around 9 p.m., he was given a bed in the ER, then was put in a room the next morning, Thursday.

Once in his room, he said the care he received from doctors and nurses was excellent.

These things happen on a regular basis. I watched what my wife went through for over an hour in the ER waiting room. She needed to have an operation immediately.

The surgeon was waiting, but they would not send her to the seventh floor.

So I made a very loud comment and in less than five minutes, a nurse came and said, “We need to get Mrs. Shore to the seventh floor right away.”

Really. This was in 2015.

Jan Fisher, president of UPMC Altoona and Bedford, makes almost $800,000 a year.

In 2021, UPMC CEO Jeffery Romoff made over $8 million a year. That’s only two executives.

How many more are there making large salaries? What do they do to earn that money?

Hospital Corporation of America is the biggest owner of hospitals for profit. To make as much money as possible, they want fewer nurses and technicians.

What do Lou Schmitt, Jim Gregory and Judy Ward in Harrisburg or Bob Casey, John Fetterman, Glenn Thompson and John Joyce in Washington think of these problems?

If one of these people went to the ER with a splinter in their finger, they would be treated immediately.

This is a nationwide problem and needs to be fixed. I doubt there is anyone out there who cares enough to fix it.

Dennis C. Shore

Altoona