HMOs

“Managed Care Can Be Made to Work Better” (Commentary, Feb. 6), by Alain Enthoven and Sara Singer, is interesting because five years ago they advocated the managed care (HMO) concept and vigorously opposed universal health care.

Their current article outlines some of the many problems with HMOs--patient problems and doctors being pushed around by powerful, bottom-line hungry HMOs. It concludes HMOs should be better regulated so that patients and doctors are treated properly. Fine. There is no question that HMOs need more effective regulation.

But how much simpler, less costly and less complicated it would be if we had Medicare for all Americans and we got rid of all HMOs, which provide no health care whatever, but simply profit from the care doctors and hospitals provide.

LEO NEWMAN

Laguna Hills