January 26, 2003
To:
NC Congressional Representative (Coble) and US Senators (Edwards,
Dole) from NC
Dear Member of Congress,
This past Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported "UnitedHealth
4th Quarter
Net Rises 53% As Company Hikes Premiums." One week ago, local
UnitedHeatlh officials demanded that we accept as surgeons payment
levels
that go below what we were paid in 1996 and are only a few % points
above
the ever falling Medicare rates. This year, United HealthCare raised
the
premiums that we as a small business must pay for our employees
20%. This
year UnitedHealth demanded that Cone Hospital system take a pay
cut on
daily charges and forced those negotiations to go to the last hour
before
a settlement was reached. In Greensboro, UNH is a huge part of our
managed care market. Our economy is suffering and I am providing
a lot
more free care not only to the Mexican nationals that live here
and have
no insurance but also to the many people who have lost their jobs.
( both
of these populations are growing)
I am outraged by the article that appeared last week in the W$J
because I
know what UNH is doing to us both as an employer and as health
care
providers. It doesn't help matters that UNH CEO William McGuire's
total
compensation package begins at $6 million in direct compensation,
$54
million including perquisites, but not including the $357 million
that he
has in unexercised stock options (Families USA). These numbers
agree with
what I have seen and heard from other sources. This is an outrage!
Remember this when you start hearing more about doctors striking
or
refusing to see patients from such managed care plans. Remember
this when
you hear about plans to use private sector companies to administer
Medicare programs. Remember this when Dr. William McGuire testifies
before your committee--I would question his credibility and
ethics in
trying to make our healthcare system work for patients.
I hope that you will put down the partisan fighting and put
on your
statesmanship hats --we need to reform health care for the people
of 2010
and beyond. If you don't act now, the future of health care
might get
pretty ugly.
Sincerely,
Matt B. Martin, MD, FACS