To the Editor:

I just have a few questions for those who have already been swept up in their loyalties to insurance companies over the interests of the American people.

What makes one person deserve health care over another?
Most of us will lead comfortable lives in which we have health insurance so you may not be concerned. But consider this: 62 percent of all bankruptcies filed in 2007 were linked to medical expenses. Of those who filed for bankruptcy, nearly 80 percent had health insurance. A for-profit health care system will forever encourage insurance companies to skim profits without providing any coverage people need.

Some of you are probably paranoid about getting the swine flu. You don’t want to get sick and have to miss class or whatnot. And that fear is likely without a full-time job, dependants or lack of health insurance. Consider the roughly 50 million Americans who live in fear, not because they are germaphobes taking 18 hours but because they are uninsured, many working 40, 60 or 80 hours a week. They know if they get sick and have to miss work, everything can come crashing down. Millions more are underinsured, one catastrophic illness away from home foreclosure due to unaffordable medical costs. It happens to 1.5 million families every year.

Why do we spend more per capita on health care than any other country in the world, yet have a health care system ranked 37th in the world by the World Health Organization?

Yes, we have great top-end care. But, our health care system is plagued by tremendous inefficiencies related to our health insurance problem. Emergency rooms have become the alternative to primary care physicians. This is both more expensive and less effective than primary care because people wait to seek treatment until the problem is more severe. We already spend more than any other nation; let’s get our money’s worth.

Why not a government option?
We already have Medicare, Medicaid and health coverage for our veterans and politicians. Outside of those programs, only the uber-rich do not have to worry about their health care coverage. Insurance companies have demonstrated time and time again where they stand. They favor profits over people’s lives. It is time we change that. It is time that the people who benefit from health care expenditures are the sick rather than the shareholders of insurance companies.

Frannie Boyle asserts our health care system will not be able to care for everyone if they were to get coverage. I’m no economist, but it’s obvious that if the demand for medical practitioners goes up, the supply will respond. She refers to “getting served (with health care)” as a “privilege.” Again, we differ. See, I tend to think a human being should be cared for if they are ill and healed if they are injured. Radical, I know. She wrote, “the government would get to choose who gets care and who doesn’t.” Private insurance companies have been doing that for years. Only, the government plan answers to the people and is designed to break even rather than make billions. She wrote that “now is not the time” and we should wait to weigh the options. Sorry, but the balance has been tipped towards the insurance industry for a while now. I think we know what option we need. We don’t have time to wait.

Benjamin Eagles
Junior, College of Arts and Science