Editorial missed holes in health plan

Your editorial last Thursday about the coverage of the health care plans for University employees was gratuitous-it is not really your business-and truly dumb.

You might at least find out what insurance is for before you start telling us what we are entitled to. Groups band together in common insurance plans so things that are too expensive for individuals can be paid for by spreading the cost over the whole group. What health insurance clearly needs to cover are things that cost a lot, either because they require intensive care for a short time (emergencies, acute illnesses, childbirth, etc) or because they require repeated care over a long time. The current plan covers the former but not the latter; it also covers a lot of small expenses that don't really require full insurance coverage. That is the issue.

You should also understand that the University does not pay all of our health care premiums; we pay a substantial part of it. All anyone is asking is that expensive chronic care be covered by the insurance, spreading the cost over the whole pool. If additional premiums are really too burdensome (remember, the plan is making the University money this year) small co-payments for routine things could make up the difference in cost.

In a country with a sane health care system, this kind of problem would not be left to institutions like the University to manage-or mismanage. But as was shown again only two years ago, it would cut into the large profits of too many powerful interests to establish a reasonable system in the United States. This leaves it to employers to offer plans that meet the needs of their employees. Until recently, the University did pretty well (some would say too well), but now the coverage simply has too many large holes in it.

Lawrence Evans

Department of Physics