Pros
State benefits - for now. It will be interesting to see how integration will affect those with state benefits.
Cons
UW Health is very top heavy. If you're not a doctor, nurse, or allied health professional you get treated like garbage and your pay is quite low. The new incentive plan is based on how well the organization does as a group and is something that you as an individual have little control over. You have to pay for parking or take the bus to work if you're at the main hospital. Lot 76 (covered) is around $1k/yr and Lot 60 is a couple hundred less. Whether you're a doctor making $400k+/yr or a custodian making $12/hr you have to pay the same rates. Well, the special doctors and high level management get underground parking below the School of Medicine library. There is very limited room for advancement to earn a wage to support your family in a city that has a rather high cost of living (as far as midwest cities go) unless you're in one of the coveted positions. Most support staff have to live a ways outside of the city in order to live on these wages. Retirement benefits have been cut in half. Health insurance premiums, like everywhere else, have skyrocketed - as have co insurance, deductibles, and co pays. Overall it's just a high stress, uncomfortable atmosphere filled with arrogant and condescending doctors and nurses. Hopefully that will change someday but I doubt it - it's ingrained in UW's culture.
