Edition: U.S. / Global  Single-Payer Plan Provides Best Health
Choice; The Sunday Checkup  Published: November 16, 1993  To the
Editor:  The reason that health care does not follow the law of
supply and demand is that demand is so elastic. There is no
level of supply that demand will not rise to meet, provided the
price is right -- which is why President Clinton's program for
managed care is doomed to failure.  When you have a health-care
system that you can go to even for viral upper respiratory
infections, the symptoms of which are treated by over-the-
counter medications, the demand will rise to meet that supply.
Why not go see your physician and hear, "It's just a cold" if it
won't cost you anything?  In my practice with a large health
maintenance organization in Los Angeles (in which a monthly pre-
paid premium covers as many visits as the patient desires), it
is a Sunday ritual for certain patients to stop by after Mass
"for a checkup."   One week it's the ears that are bothersome,
the next it's a "scratc