Letters, Jun. 18, 1979

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Price of Caring

To the Editors:

Your story "Medical Costs—Seeking the Cure" [May 28] almost scared me sick. The best solution for keeping medical costs within reason is to stay well.

Mark Insalata Ossining, N. Y.

I do not fear the rising costs of health care as much as I fear yet another multi-billion-dollar Government program. It will only advance us closer to a socialist U.S. and mean more inflation for the middle class, who must support this "something-for-everyone" program.

Sheri Hendricks Zion, III.

I was expecting yet another attack on America's latest whipping boy, the medical profession. Instead, I was pleased to find a clear, concise and unbiased account of an emotionally charged issue.

John Allen King, M.D. Gainesville, Fla.

Americans as a whole have done little to preserve their health, and most do not deserve medical care at reasonable cost. Advertising of cigarettes and any unhealthful products should be banned, and the money put into health care.

Mark H. Thompson Huntsville, Ala.

Before the plug is pulled on this dialysis patient, be sure someone is around to answer the question of whether society can afford not to have me around just because my kidneys don't work.

Kathy R. Patterson Oxon Hill, Md.

You are to be congratulated for focusing on the subject of the rapidly rising cost of health care. But we were disappointed that you failed to mention a Republican health insurance bill, the Dole-Danforth-Domenici proposal.

Our catastrophic health insurance proposal has three key parts. First, those eligible for Medicare will be protected by expansion of their present benefits. Second, the large majority of the employed will be assured of the availability of adequate private insurance protection. Third, those who are part of the residual marketplace, and not already covered, may choose to have the Federal Government serve, in some instances, as a financial backup, in contracting with the private insurance companies for catastrophic coverage.

Bob Dole, Jack Danforth, Pete Domenici U.S. Senate Washington, D.C.

Senator Kennedy's health insurance plan would provide coverage for all Americans and aim at limiting costs, an admirable scheme. But along with any plan to ration medical care and limit its cost comes a compromise in quality. Will the Senator tell us this?

Andrew Jamieson Fargo, N. Dak.

As a medical student, I found myself agreeing with the Boston specialist about the physician's right to charge high fees. It's disheartening to realize that while the public apparently demands perfection in technique and diagnosis, it pays for it rather grudgingly.

Terry J. Gioe Indianapolis

The argument that doctors have a right to charge high fees because of the "long years of learning and not earning, the killing hours and loss of contact with family," etc., is rubbish. At no time during premed, medical school, internship or residency did someone put a gun to my head and force me to continue.

Leon Reinstein, M.D. Baltimore

We all should listen to the modern Hippocratic statement made by Alan Alda—a man acting as a doctor imploring doctors to act as men.

George Eddy Parker Cornwall-on-Hudson, N. Y.