Letter: Nonprofit HMOs would provide affordable care

Friday, July 20, 2001 | 10:29 a.m.

The only way to slow the rise in health care costs is for big business to get out of health care. The only thing big business does for health care is raise the costs.

Doctors and nurses should be paid very well, but why should stockholders and CEOs be able to suck so much money out of something that everyone must have? I don't know anything about the Clinton health care plan because big business spent millions of dollars on campaign contributions, and Harry and Louise TV ads, to see that it didn't pass.

Big business got into health care, big time, after Medicare passed because they like being on the federal payroll. HMOs are rather like pimps who don't do any of the work but take half of the money.

A few years ago you couldn't watch TV without seeing an ad for Columbia hospitals. It seemed that they wanted to own every hospital in the country, and then they got caught stealing from Medicare and that was the end of the ads. We have nonprofit hospitals (University Medical Center); why couldn't we have nonprofit HMOs?

Nonprofit HMOs would not be sued because they would have no incentive for denying treatment.

JIM RILEY