Hillary Clinton

* Hillary Clinton’s indictment of the health insurance industry (Nov. 2) is a clear case of pointing the finger of blame in the wrong direction.

What “has brought us to the brink of bankruptcy” in the health care system is the increased cost of medical technology, an aging population, lack of tort reform and bloated government entitlement programs.

All Mrs. Clinton need do is look at the positive effects of insurance carrier reform in California (AB 1672) to see that insurance companies, agents and a government-managed health alliance can coexist in an open and competitive environment, for the benefit of the consumer.

Incremental change, keeping in mind the consumer’s desire for real choice and a true system of open competition, will best serve the vast majority of people’s needs.

BARRY J. FISHER

Vice President

Los Angeles Assn. of Health Underwriters

* Mrs. Clinton correctly points out that insurance companies “like being able to exclude people from coverage because the more they exclude the more money they can make.”

I agree and also point out one additional problem that we face when most of us wind up with HMO coverage as proposed by the Clinton plan: In all HMO per capita plans, where total health care is provided for a fixed fee, insurance companies make money by denying care. Yet, such plans are the only ones that make any sense where total health care is the objective for all of us.

So, how to handle greedy insurance companies? An 800 hot-line phone number as well as an address that all citizens can contact when they are illegally denied care. In other words, a government-provided ombudsman.

ROBERT M. FOX

Sherman Oaks