Optima

About 30,000 poor, elderly and disabled people in Orange County will have to switch to a new health insurance provider because Blue Cross of California will no longer contract with the county's CalOptima program. In a joint press release issued Friday, CalOptima and Blue Cross of California announced the change, which will take effect March 31. CalOptima officials said patients would have to switch to one of nine health networks that remain with the agency.

Three new members have been appointed to the board of CalOptima, a $580-million-a-year agency that provides health-care funds for low-income children, the elderly and disabled. Dr. Paul Yost, chief of staff at Children's Hospital of Orange County, will be the board's physician representative. Health-care provider representatives are Jacqueline Cherewick, director of the Huntington Beach Community Clinic, and Dr. Ralph Cygan, director of UCI Medical Center.

Kia Motors Corp.'s U.S. unit recalled 9,461 Optima sedans because wiring for the driver's side air bag can be damaged by the seat-adjustment mechanism. The South Korean auto maker's dealers will reroute the wiring to eliminate the problem, Kia said in a statement. The work will take less than an hour and be done without charge, the company said. Kia began selling the Optima in the U.S. in late December.

CalOPTIMA, the agency that provides health care to many of Orange County's poor and disabled, has won a $42-million increase in annual funding from the state--money that officials say will help patients countywide by keeping doctors and hospitals in the program. The money will be used to provide on average a 19% boost in fee and fixed payments to doctors and hospitals, said CalOPTIMA officials, who formally accepted the new rates this week. The higher rates take effect Oct.

The emergency health care needs of poor, uninsured Orange County residents are not being met by the county's underfunded Medical Services for Indigents program, according to a grand jury report released Friday. "If one is ill and indigent in Orange County, there are ways to obtain medical care; but frequently the efforts needed to find the care, complete the forms and qualify turn away all but the most determined," the report stated.

A statewide Latino-rights group wants the board that oversees Orange County's medical program for the poor disbanded in favor of elected leaders, a change it believes would better represent the interests of the largely minority community being served. In a letter to Atty. Gen.

A 38-year-old community college student who works part-time spent a week in Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center recently recovering from a heart attack. He got there by calling 911 after chest pains raged out of control. His substantial bills were paid by a county program called Medical Services for Indigents, or MSI. The student had plenty of warning; he is a diabetic with a history of hypertension and high cholesterol.

Re "O.C. Largely Healing Service to Poor Patients," Oct. 25: I am glad to see that CalOPTIMA is at last getting the recognition it deserves for accomplishing what the old Medi-Cal system could not: providing the poor with access to comprehensive health care services and fine physicians. Several years ago, Medi-Cal patients had great difficulty finding physicians who would treat them; it was nearly impossible to find a specialist. Today, for the first time, Medi-Cal patients have a real choice among doctors and no longer have to use emergency rooms for routine care.

Re "CalOPTIMA's Success," Nov. 15 editorial: As a "traditional" provider who was providing care for those covered by Medi-Cal before the implementation of CalOPTIMA, I viewed the implementation of the county-run plan with much trepidation, since the population served by this plan comprised the bulk of my practice. In fact, I immediately arranged a business loan because I knew the cash flow of my practice would be at least temporarily compromised, even in the event of its success.

Your Oct. 25 article ("O.C. Largely Healing Service to Poor Patients") presented a well-balanced perspective. HMO-type health systems are, by virtue of economics, designed to best serve individuals who are well. And having ready access to health care is a cost-effective and, of course, preventive approach. The glitch for people who are disabled and who may have chronic, unique and/or complex needs is that they do not "fit" into the fundamental cost-capped structure upon which managed care is based.