Medicare Pullouts a Hardship for Seniors

Aetna says it will cut back on offering HMO coverage to seniors in several cities, because the government no longer pays enough to make the business profitable [“Aetna Reports Earnings Increase, Announces HMO Cutbacks,” April 28]. Several other large HMOs have curtailed such business in the last two years.

The exodus of health plans from Medicare has impacted more than 700,000 seniors. With this in mind, I have read that George W. Bush favors a plan to reform Medicare that would stop Medicare from paying the medical providers directly. Instead, the proposal would give seniors a check, or something like a check, so they could go out on their own to purchase health coverage. I shudder to think of a senior in extremely poor health trying to obtain coverage from insurance companies whose goal is to make a profit.

ED COLLINS

Yucca Valley