To the Editor:

I must say that I share Uwe Reinhardt's bewilderment regarding patients' resistance to their loss of freedom under managed care (See “Monitor,” June 1998). After all, Professor Reinhardt worked tirelessly on the Clinton Administration's health care reform task force to bring the benefits of socialized medicine to the United States, only to watch the entire idealistic enterprise founder in a sea of second thoughts and doubts in 1993. Now patients refuse to acknowledge the achievements of the managed care industry.

I propose that the real failure may be a lack of historical perspective. After all, wasn't this nation founded by men who understood the importance of sacrificing individual liberty and freedoms for the common good? Perhaps if this were better understood, patients would more willingly surrender their rights and freedom under managed care and show a little more gratitude for the benefits bought with this loss of freedom.