Some HMO Medicare Patients Listed as ‘Satisfied’ Aren’t

‘Study Says 13% Quit Medicare Plans” [Dec. 5] seems to assume that all the Medicare enrollees who do not “opt out” of their HMO plans are obviously satisfied with their care. This presumption ignores the primary reason that Medicare beneficiaries join HMOs in the first place--namely, financial coercion.

As an orthopedic surgeon, I have been treating Medicare patients since the program’s inception, and I have never experienced the degree of dissatisfaction among Medicare patients that I have since HMOs have started to “invade” the traditional Medicare patient base.

The one recurring refrain I hear over and over from these “satisfied” patients is that they would love to return to their traditional Medicare coverage but for the financial disincentives of having to give up “no deductible” coverage, free prescriptions, no “co-pays,” etc.

Provide traditional Medicare patients with the same “benefits” as HMO/Medicare patients, while preserving their right to choose their own doctor, and see how many of those “satisfied” patients stay with their HMOs.

Dr. STEPHEN J. GOMBERG

Westlake Village

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The American Assn. of Health Plans is busy patting themselves on the back that “only” 13% of Medicare HMO members have switched out of their plans, while The Times’ story is echoing the party line by stating the “modest dropout rate suggests a high level of satisfaction among elderly.” The number of switches would have been much higher if retirees’ former employers paying the premiums permitted switching into a fee-for-service plan (mine does not) or if those paying their own premiums could afford switching to higher-priced fee-for-service coverage.

EDWIN JAFFE

Rancho Park

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The fact that Medicare beneficiaries have not quit HMOs in droves is not due to a “level of satisfaction” but because they cannot afford the supplemental insurance to pay the deductible. HMOs are still not the answer to a medical dream.

JEANNE ROUSSO

Westlake Village