Medical Insurers

Your article, “Rx or Red Tape,” (by Bettijane Levine, Aug. 15) points to the incredible inhumanity of health insurance companies. A patient, suffering from bone cancer, is not considered a human being worthy of care; she is merely something that is apt to cost the insurance company some money. The insurance company has a cure, not to her cancer but to its financial quandary. It’s simple: The insurance company merely labels chemotherapy, treatment that could save the patient’s life, as experimental and then refuses to pay for it.

These insurance companies are now using utilization review firms to determine what medical treatments they will and will not cover. Need an extra day in the hospital? Too bad. The review firm has determined that you have stayed long enough, regardless of what you and your doctor think.

As I read the article, I wondered, “Do any of these individuals at review firms or insurance companies have friends or family members who have ever been sick?” It is absolutely barbaric to reduce human suffering to dollars and cents, so that only the rich can afford to be healthy. Adequate medical care needs to be available to everyone. No exceptions.

The current situation with medical insurance really makes me sick. And that’s a dangerous thing, because my health insurance probably won’t cover it.

MARJORIE CHASE

Culver City