WHO REALLY PAYS THE BILL?

Some readers were angered by the report in Michael Kramer's column ''Pulling the Plug'' ((THE POLITICAL INTEREST, Oct. 4)) of a medical bill for Hugh Rodham. Kramer writes that Hillary Rodham Clinton's 82-year-old father spent the last three weeks of his life in St. Vincent's Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, and quotes a physician familiar with Rodham's case as saying, ''He would normally have been discharged after a week because that's all the treatment Medicare would cover for someone in his condition, but he stayed on because of who he was. The hospital ate the bill for about $10,000.'' Helen L. Scanlan of Arlington, Texas, fumes, ''I am outraged with Mrs. Clinton. Doesn't she realize that some other patients will end up paying for this?'' John A. Parkins of Oakmont, Pennsylvania, comments, ''The hospital isn't 'eating' the bill. Every person who pays St. Vincent's is covering it.'' St. Vincent's will neither confirm nor deny the $10,000 figure, noting that financial information regarding patients is privileged, but, the hospital says, swallowing charges beyond what Medicare will pay is not unusual.