To the editor:

Thank you very much for running the story in the Sunday issue about the 4,000 people LMH Health and its affiliated clinics are cutting out of service with their move to drop Aetna and Humana Medicare Advantage plans.

I am one of these 4,000 people. I did not realize it would be so many, but I knew I was not alone.

I’ve been sad to be losing my LMH doctors who have given me good care, as well as angry and disappointed with this non-patient-centered move. Several LMH staff have blithely told me “Oh, just switch your insurance.” It is not that easy! Surely I am one of many of the 4,000 who get their Medicare health insurance from a former employer. Employers negotiate insurance plans and we only have that one provider with which they’ve negotiated. We retirees are on fairly fixed incomes, so when our former employers give us a discount on Medicare health insurance we need to take it. Why should we spend hundreds of dollars more out of pocket?

So my husband and I are finding other doctors in the area who are not part of the LMH monopoly. That hasn’t been easy either!

This is a very upsetting move and I am glad your paper has made it more public.

Sara Tompson,

Lawrence