Letter to the Editor: Health Economics

Letter to the Editor: Your Saturday article, "Crisis in Health Care," said private practices are failing because they are losing privately insured patients to Kaiser Permanente. As a family physician who was in private practice in Santa Rosa at Primary Care Associates for 19 years, I do not believe this to be true. The real culprit is low reimbursement from private insurance plans.

Many failing practices are filled to above capacity with privately insured patients. These full practices are turning away new insured patients. They have been financially forced to end relationships with patients covered by Medi-Cal years ago. Too many resources are going to insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, administrative expense and other health-care-related enterprises, with less and less going to primary care practices.

To blame Kaiser Permanente for the financial demise of private practices is simplistic and wrong. I left private practice in 2006 and joined Kaiser. I care for more Medicare, Medi-Cal, and uninsured patients at Kaiser Permanente than I ever did in private practice. And yes, like my colleagues in private practice, my practice is full to capacity, as always.

Dr. Steve Olson

August 22, 2008 Press Democrat