Letters: One Man’s Battle Over Health Insurance

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Re "A Health Insurance Detective Story," by Frank Lalli (Sunday Review, Dec. 2):

The longstanding conservative claim is that the open market is far more efficient than government in doing things, especially when it comes to anything involving medical care. But after reading Mr. Lalli's adventures in trying to determine the cost of his vitally needed medication, it would seem that the private sector is far worse and clueless.

CHARLES REPKA
East Windsor, N.J., Dec. 3, 2012

To the Editor:

The writer's experience is not unique; it's common. Health insurance companies don't mistakenly deny coverage because of bureaucracy; it's their intended business model. And health insurance companies make more money than is needed to solve the Medicare funding crisis. Now there's something to chew on.

BRIAN BROKER
Phoenixville, Pa., Dec. 2, 2012

The writer is an otolaryngologist.

To the Editor:

I empathize with Frank Lalli, who, despite his long career in business journalism, couldn't get a straight answer to the question of how much his cancer medicine would cost.

Aside from health care, is there a product or service that we buy without knowing the price?

There's just one way that most of us learn the cost of a medical procedure: have it done. Codes will fly into the computer, onto a bill and into your mailbox.

MARY ANN LICKTEIG
Burlington, Vt., Dec. 3, 2012

To the Editor:

Contrast this bureaucratic idiocy involving 70 phone calls to 16 different organizations to the system in Germany.

Its national health insurance program pays for prescription drugs, except that the patient pays 10 percent of the cost of each prescription — a minimum of 5 euros and a maximum of 10 euros.

Why can't the United States implement a simple, fair, efficient and cost-saving reimbursement system?

WALTER DIEBOLD
Lafayette, Calif., Dec. 2, 2012

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