THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 31, 1996 TAG: 9603280021
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 28 lines
After decades of mismanagement of traditional insurance plans, we now live in the era of health-maintenance organizations being used to manage our health care.
As a concerned citizen and a potential mental-health-care provider, I found the recent article ``Forty states have tried to rein in HMOs' power'' somewhat comforting. For a change, the public is being made aware of what HMOs are really about; that is, in the business of managing money as opposed to managing our health care.
Moreover, HMOs are using cost restrictions that are limiting appropriate treatment, services or care. Based on the information provided in the article, it would be ideal if we used our political powers to back anti-HMO legislation that would allow consumers to have more health-care choices and obtain appropriate services with fewer restrictions.
STEPHANIE E. SHAW
Norfolk, March 16, 1996 by CNB