Letters to the editor
The Oregonian, Sept. 28, 2010
Regence BlueCross BlueShield and other large insurers canceled their policies for children just before they would have had to accept any patient regardless of his or her medical condition (“Regence drops child-only coverage,” Sept. 23). This confirms what we have long known: Since 20 percent of the population use up 90 percent of health care expenses in any given year, insurance companies make money by not insuring these costly patients.
We need an insurance system that pools the risk evenly and spreads out the costs of the sickest 20 percent of us. Other rich nations have versions of a single-payer system to finance health service payments. It is time we adopt a single-payer national health program in the United States. Such a system would provide affordable access to medical services for everyone. No one would have to worry about pre-existing conditions, deductibles, provider networks, medical debt, losing insurance with a job loss or a doctor rejecting them as a patient because they are on Medicaid. Instead, the sick would simply choose their doctor and hospital.
Nancy Crumpacker, M.D.
Northwest Portland
Crumpacker is affiliated with Physicians for a National Health Program
http://blog.oregonlive.com/myoregon/2010/09/we_need_health_care_for_all.html