With market-based health care, too many lose out
Letters to the Editor
St. Petersburg Times
Published November 3, 2007
As Rudy Giuliani and the other candidates predictably trot out the scare tactics regarding universal, national health care programs, they would do well to remember these facts:
1. Everyone is covered, period. There are no pre-existing conditions, insurance ratings or other tricks to deny coverage.
2. Health insurance does not evaporate with the loss or change of a job, nor is it different if you are injured at work, in a car accident, disabled, below the poverty level or if something happens to you at home or abroad.
3. Medical decisions are made by the patient and doctor, not an insurance company or government bureaucrat.
4. Medical care is the same for everyone, regardless of race, socioeconomic status or employment.
5. Bankruptcy from medical bills, or living in fear of it, does not exist.
6. We pay far too much now and receive far too little in exchange.
If “market-based” health care is so wonderful, how did it lead us to the miserable state of health care in this country today? Our leaders seem to have forgotten the fundamental truth of market systems: There are always “winners” at the expense of “losers.” Will we, as a nation, continue to accept our fellow citizens as health care losers in order for health insurance companies to be the big winners?
I, for one, cannot.
Greg Silver, M.D.
Palm Harbor