Your
editorial "Kaiser fine a pittance" is on target. Kaiser's
attempt to move its renal-transplant patients to its own internal and
dysfunctional system is but a symptom of a more fundamental problem.
Kaiser
is really a for-profit medical system in which the yearly
minimal goal is a 5 percent profit, or $1.8 billion this year. Half of
that goes to the physicians -- who really run the HMO (per the Tahoe
Agreement, Tahoe Two Agreement and Section K of the KP contract).
A
monetary fine that would make a dent in that kind of a profit system
would be more in the magnitude of $20 million.
The
additional donation of $3 million by Kaiser has no meaning since
Kaiser is obligated to spend such monies to avoid taxes. There will
only be a shift of funds away from some other project, such as asthma
care for the poor.
Phillips,
M.D., is a former Kaiser physician who lives in Fresno.
