17 Columbia Circle Albany, NY 12203 Dear Health Plan Administrator: I had a routine doctor's appointment yesterday with the same doctor that I have been seeing for more than 15 years. When my name was called the nurse escorted me to the examining room, had me step on the scales, took my blood pressure and asked me some routine questions about the medications that I am on, how long it had been since my last visit and if I had any particular health problem or concern. Questions that I am used to hearing every time I visit this or any doctor. Then, in a drone-like voice she asked, "Do you smoke, if so how much? You should know that smoking is harmful to your health. Do you drink alcohol, if so how much? Be aware that excessive alcohol use is harmful to your health. Be sure to wear your seat belt when you are in a car. If you ride a bike wear a helmet. Stay out of direct sunlight or use a sun-screen. And don't forget to see your dentist every six months." Somewhat flabbergasted I replied, a bit sarcastically, "Yes Ma'am (the nurse was probably less than half my age). I'm happy that you are so concerned with my well-being." She replied that it is you, my HMO, that's so concerned with my well-being that she now has to repeat that spiel every time she greets a patient because of a provision in your contract with the doctor. Do you think that I am a little boy and you are my mother? I didn't ask for your advice on how to live my life and I don't need it or want it. I am a grown man, fully capable of making my own decisions and deciding on how much risk I wish to chance. I pay you to provide health insurance, not paternalistic advice. As a retiree, my former employer also pays part of the premium to you on my behalf, but it is my money, negotiated between my former union and my former employer as a benefit related to my terms of employment. My former employer, according to it's labor contracts, has no say in how that designated health insurance money is to be spent. That's between you and me, and I don't like you wasting my money telling me to do what you want me to do, regardless of how good your advice may be. How much time do you have doctors' employees waste giving this schlock canned advice out to everyone who walks in the door? Do you really expect that anyone will pay any more attention to it than they do to a warning label on a styrofoam cup that says, "Coffee is hot?" You and your peers in the health-related industrial complex, including your cronies in government, should stick to fixing broken bones and bad hearts and stop insisting that the world march to your advice. Your paternalistic attitude regarding "living healthy" has become so pervasive that Denny's won't sell me sunny-side-up eggs and Friendly's won't sell me a rare, or even medium-rare, burger. What's next, a ban on grease at McDonald's? I am certain that you would outlaw motorcycles, sky-diving, raw oysters and sushi if you thought you could get away with it. You, and your entire industy, are control-freaks extraordinaire. If I want medical or health advice I will ask my doctor about it. I don't need you sticking your know-it-all noses into my relationship with him or into my life in general. Sincerely, Dick Casaly |