Health Plan Hoopla
Without clearly stating the obvious, "America's Best Health Plans"[November 6] presented a compelling case for a single-payer healthcare system in this country. The growing ranks of the underinsured, the rapid escalation of premiums with commensurate decrease in benefits, and the anxiety of a nation held hostage by insurance companies was well described. It was with the pages of rankings of insurance plans that the need for a single payer comes into focus. The estimated $350 billion per year spent on paperwork would go a long way toward providing care for millions of people. It would be refreshing to see a politician stand in favor of the single-payer system that America deserves and desperately needs.
ROBERT S. KIEFNER, M.D.
Concord, N.H.
Fantastic coverage of health insurance plans, but how about pointing out how much we would save if Medicare was extended to all regardless of age; how much money is wasted by using inefficient private health insurance carriers and by doctors' offices chasing down insurance money; and how major corporations remain less competitive because of the money they spend on employee health (more accurately, sickness) insurance. In other words, the best health plan is the one that we can't get in this country.
DAVID B. JORDAN
Edgewater, N.J.
The article that introduces "America's Best Health Plans" references Betty Noel's endometrial carcinoma and a bill of $13,270 for the first month of treatment. Why should this be so expensive? Why should it cost between $1,400 and $3,240 to insert ear tubes? Does anyone realize that a self-pay patient may have to pay two or three times for a procedure as compared with a Medicare patient? On my wife's health insurance, she is charged full fees until the deductible is met and then the lower fee negotiated by the insurance company kicks in. I spent about 40 years in medicine, and I know abuses take place. We could greatly decrease healthcare costs in this country if everyone was really honest. As Mortimer Zuckerman stated in "Our Cheating Hearts" in the same issue: "Money, quite simply, has become more important to many people than reputation and personal integrity." This thesis should also be applied to the healthcare field.
THOMAS THOMPSON, M.D.
Wilmington, N.C.
Strangely enough, those of us who live west of the Mississippi or south of the Mason-Dixon Line get sick too. There is only one plan listed in Florida, Virginia, Iowa, and California, respectively. No wonder fewer and fewer people bother with health insurance each year.
VIRGINIA WILKINS
Denver
Editor's note: Because of limited space, only top health plans were included in the magazine. A complete list is at usnews.com/healthplans.
Hearts and Minds
The articles included in the series "Playing Defense" ["The Eye of the Storm"; "Hey, Let's Play Ball," November 6] are the first I've read that sound as if the writers did their jobs properly. They listened, quoted on-the-record named sources, and reported it straight. No anonymous sources, no think-tank outsiders, no disgruntled career naysayers. Just one gratuitous "eavesdroppers" comment at the beginning. Bravo. The people at the National Counterterrorism Center are our first line of defense against our mortal enemies. They need to be supported, cheered, and rewarded.
JIM MCMAHON
Los Alamitos, Calif.
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