When Indigent Care Falls Short

In his Sept. 13 letter (“Indigent Health Care Is Inadequate”), Dr. Peter Anderson acknowledges the need to help the indigent, but I question his claim that private physicians and hospitals have been giving adequate care to those without insurance.

Many of the indigent have given up after being told repeatedly that they must pay doctors’ fees up front. As a physician in the public health sector, I see daily evidence of this. Too many neglect health problems until they become acute and are forced to turn to hospital emergency rooms.

Whatever care some may get from the private sector is certainly not adequate to meet the overwhelming needs of the poor, and contrary to Dr. Anderson’s assertions, Proposition 166, the California Medical Assn.’s answer to our health care ills, is not a “reasonable solution to the plight of the uninsured and under-insured.” Its passage will only exacerbate the problem.

Proposition 166 will do nothing for anyone who is not employed. In fact, it will almost certainly lead to more unemployment as a result of employers’ replacing full-time workers with part-time help who will not be covered by the plan. Those who lose their jobs will be left with nothing.

And Proposition 166 does nothing to control the rapid rise in health-care costs. Insurance companies, physicians, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies will continue to escalate costs until health insurance will be beyond the reach of most Californians.

WILLIAM SCHWIED, MD, MPH

Laguna Hills