Managed-Care Companies Need to Wise Up

Mark Weinberg, executive vice president of WellPoint Health Systems, was quoted in “Study Says California HMOs Spend Up to 31% on Overhead,” (April 7) as saying, “The No. 1 goal of managed-care companies is to negotiate lower rates.”

I believe this quote accurately sums up the attitude of many, if not most, administrators of managed-care businesses. It’s a shameful attitude. Listen up, Weinberg! The No. 1 goal of anyone involved in health care should be quality, compassionate health care. I know that is not what they teach you in MBA school, but that’s what we learn in medicine and nursing.

We don’t need astronomical CEO salaries, expensive ad campaigns, multiplying managed-care bureaucracies and mean-spirited “gatekeepers” who act more like “goalies” trying to stop rather than deliver health care.

Until you and your ilk get these simple facts straight, you are going to cause nothing but misery for the patient and trouble for yourselves. Consider, for example, the jury award of $89 million against Health Net for denying a medical service to its customers that it provided to its executives.

One of the better features of the proposed Clinton plan is that it would allow the consumer to jettison a health plan like yours for squandering 31% of income on non-medical expenditures and move on to a more responsible care provided without penalty.

DR. FREDERIC GRANNIS Jr.

Arcadia