Hats Off to PacifiCare

* As president of a nonprofit consumer organization long involved in health care issues, I’d like to commend PacifiCare for the steps it is taking to help its members access their health care more effectively (“Putting the ‘Care’ Into Managed Care, Before Reformers Do,” Sept. 8, 1998).

I was most heartened by PacifiCare’s plans to call every one of its 600,000 Secure Horizon Medicare plan members this year and invite their opinions.

This shows a willingness to listen to the very real concerns that managed care patients have with their health plans. The fact that 1,000 senior citizens attended a meeting to discuss their health care demonstrates how hungry consumers are for information and how eager they are to find answers to their problems.

It shows clearly that listening to consumers is the first--and most important--step we can take to identify and resolve the issues that surround managed health care.

We are delighted to have someone like Alan Hoops out there listening, responding to and working to fix the problems that patients are encountering.

Critics may call it a public relations move to head off legislation, but even if that were true, it wouldn’t matter. The point is that consumers are having their say and this health plan is listening.

Keep it up, PacifiCare!

ELLEN SEVERONI

California Health Decisions Inc.