To the Editor:
I found a recent ad in the Jersey Journal by CarePoint Bayonne Medical Center entitled “We take care of Bayonne” interesting. The ad’s theme presents Bayonne as a neighborly and caring community; a description with which I cannot disagree.
Also, in the ad CarePoint Bayonne Medical Center claims to welcome Bayonne residents, claims it reaches out to Bayonne residents and claims it cares with everything it’s got for Bayonne residents. CarePoint Bayonne Medical Center even compares itself in the ad to a neighbor who, with extra kindness, goes out of its way to help.
Most interesting is CarePoint Bayonne Medical Center’s claim that “we take care of our own.” What is left unsaid in their ad is that you are not one of their own if you have Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance, since CarePoint Bayonne Medical Center does not honor this insurance. Some in Bayonne would say that kind of exclusion of a neighbor isn’t taking care of your own.
The reality, of course, is that the ad is not a public service message but a public relations pitch to have those living in Bayonne view CarePoint Bayonne Medical Center as if it were just like most of us – caring neighbors – instead of a for-profit business. To be clear, I am not against business nor profit, but when a business the size of CarePoint attempts to portray itself as a neighbor, particularly one who goes out of its way to help, it makes me suspicious and instinctively hold on a little tighter to my wallet.
WILLIAM T. SMITH