Nonprofit Health Care

I was interested in your paragraph in the Kaiser health care article (May 10) stating that “As a nonprofit organization with no shareholders for whom to put dividends aside . . . (Kaiser) reinvests earnings to build or improve hospitals and clinics and to buy equipment.”

On the other hand, the health maintenance organization FHP International Corp. reports that its third-quarter profit rose to $14.4 million, or 43 cents a share. That income probably results to a large extent from taxpayer-supported Medicare patients.

We seem to be the only country where health organizations are traded on the stock market and profits made for shareholders. I have yet to see a discussion on profit versus nonprofit HMOs about exploring health costs.

G. BORDING MATHIEU

Laguna Beach