Editorial: HMOs use tactics they once decried

Wednesday, Aug. 26, 1998 | 11:13 a.m.

So what are these health plans up to now? It seems that they're waging a counteroffensive, using anecdotes of people who have benefited from managed care. According to an Associated Press report last week, an employer group, the Healthcare Leadership Council, is sending daily faxes to journalists and legislators called the "Medical Miracles." Apparently what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

The United States probably has the most advanced medical system in the world. Of course there are medical miracles. With the advent of managed care and an emphasis on profits at the expense of medicine, however, there have been too many medical tragedies. Congressional reform of managed care is needed.

Probably the most apt analogy was mentioned by one of the authors of "Casualty of the Day," a fax publication recounting managed care horror stories. "The HMO campaign is like the automobile industry writing a daily letter about all the Pintos that didn't explode," Jamie Court said.

The bottom line is that reforms aren't aimed at doctors; they're targeted at the bean counters who interfere with medical decisions. Unless and until health care plans get the message and stop interfering, Americans will demand reform to stem managed care abuses, no matter how many medical miracles happen.