Gatekeepers and Cost-Containers in HMOs

To the Editor: Three articles pertaining to the delivery of medical care, written by Drs. Levinson, Reagan, and Hillman (Dec. 31 issue), 1 2 3 discuss some important points. However, our basic national problem is that we physicians refuse to grapple with a limited-resource economy. We want to provide medical care with no cost restraints. Whatever number of dollars it takes to provide care to indigents — or to perform transplantation, dialysis, immunizations, breast augmentation or reduction, or implantation of penile prostheses — must be provided. It would be great if we could throw out the defense budget and social welfare programs and . . . No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.