PacifiCare Deal Shows Need for Reform

Two key points in “CEOs Defend Healthcare Deal,” July 9:

1. The article states that after the acquisition of PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. by UnitedHealth Group Inc. some treatments will be available only to those who can afford them.

2. PacifiCare Chief Executive Howard Phanstiel says he would reap about $190 million from the transaction in company stock options, restricted shares and other equity instruments.

This is the problem with the healthcare delivery system in the U.S. today. Insurance executives who allow or disallow necessary treatment make a fortune while most doctors and almost all patients get what’s left.

We must go to a single-payer plan as all other industrialized nations have and stop subsidizing insurance companies that are non-providing profit centers.

Bud Fink

Carpinteria, Calif.