Equality for private Medicare plan

To the editor:We attended a seminar given by Humana Insurance Co. in Cape Girardeau. The policies described were those wherein Humana would receive an enrollee's Medicare monthly payment of $93.50. This payment, along with an enrollee's monthly premium of $20 would be paid to Humana, which -- under limitations set by the policy -- would medically insure the payee. Humana would manage the enrollee's Medicare coverage.

We indicated we would consider purchasing one of these policies. When the representative saw that our address was in Perry County, she told us the monthly premium would be $69 per enrollee. This higher price seemed exorbitant.

We spent hours on the phone trying to get Humana to explain the gross difference in premium price from one county to another. We were finally told that the reason was "not public information." I could not understand why, if this difference was connected to the use of money provided the enrollee via the federal government's Medicare plan, I as a consumer and citizen could not be told why the gross difference in price from one area to another existed.

According to the agent at the seminar, the reason Medicare is allowing Medicare recipients to turn payments over to a private insurance company is that the federal government wishes to get out of the Medicare insurance business. If this is the case, we feel the government needs to be sure these companies treat all enrollees equally and fairly.

HAROLD and RUTHELLEN WEINRICH, Perryville, Mo.