Pursuing profits, not healthcare

Re “Medical insurer ties staff’s pay to the health of policyholders,” April 4

It should be encouraging that WellPoint Inc. is interested in patients’ well-being and preventive medicine. But the plan is troublesome on its stated core premise: If the front lines of the program are based on WellPoint’s nearly 2,000 nurse consultants who are charged with tracking claims and talking to patients about care, it appears that WellPoint thinks we should talk to its nurse consultants instead of our doctors.

A shift to healthcare through nurse consultants instead of doctors would cut costs, but I doubt that it would constitute better healthcare. The proposal boils down to “take two aspirin and don’t call your doctor in the morning.”

A better system would be for our doctors to get bonuses from WellPoint based on improvements in our healthcare.

D.A. PAPANASTASSIOU

San Marino

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The Times quotes an expert who asks, “Shouldn’t prevention be the standard of care, not something you reward?” No. Rewarding competent care merely draws attention to the fact that most commercially insured health services are rationed to generate maximum profit, not health. As for prevention, many things cannot be prevented by managed primary care companies driven by ideology and profit.

Dealing with reality should be the standard of care, without the grudging attitude of insurers, the media, the government and all too many “advocates” shilling for the insurance lobby toward people who need something other than managed primary care. These are people with emergency, acute, catastrophic, chronic, disabling and rare health problems, many of which can’t be “prevented.” These are the people who are being thrown out of the system and driven to emergency rooms.

ARTHUR SPRINGER

New York

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If WellPoint really wants to improve patients’ health, it should offer discounts to health clubs, or yoga, tai chi, walking, meditation, running, swimming, weightlifting and nutrition classes. What makes healthy people healthy? For the most part, a variety of nutritious foods, daily exercise and engaging work or hobbies.

VICKI FLEMING

Manhattan Beach