The Health Care Americans Need
I am flabbergasted by the letters appearing in the Advocate and other newspapers celebrating Scott Brown’s victory as a repudiation of “a government takeover of healthcare.” Do the writers of these letters really think of modest proposals prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage to people with chronic illnesses and people who have lost their jobs; allowing people to buy insurance on an open exchange; and perhaps including an expansion of Medicaid for poor people and Medicare for old people, as a “government takeover of health care”?
The idea of the insurance exchange initially was a Republican idea from the 1990s that was a counter-proposal to then-President Clinton’s plan. The proposed health care bill is very similar to the plan already in place in Massachusetts, one Scott Brown voted for. Polls show that most Massachusetts citizens that voted for Brown continue to support health care reform and continue to support President Obama, but, as the letter writer correctly asserts, disliked Martha Coakley’s arrogant and incompetent campaign.
It is tragic that the vote in Massachusetts might mean the death of the dream that Senator Kennedy worked for all his life. It is a tragedy because tens of thousands of Americans will continue to die every year because of no or inadequate or denied health care coverage. Health insurance companies will continue to rack up record profits as an increasing percentage of our paychecks and the gross national product go towards health care spending.
To me, a physician who has dedicated his life to helping patients lead healthy lives, this is personal. That is why I, and most other health care providers, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and every major health care organization support health care reform.
David Gottsegen, M.D.
Holyoke Pediatric Associates
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Tim Grant’s applause for the new Massachusetts senator (Letters, Feb. 11, 2010) is phony. The day after our election, Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky crowed that polling found 48 percent of voters who put their X next to the name Brown did so because they didn’t like the brewing health plan.
The truth of the matter is that polls show Americans want real health care reform, not an expensive new law that benefits the insurance corporations more than any others. They voted against Coakley because she promised support for a bad plan.
Polling shows the people favor the successful approach of developed nations around the world, like Medicare, health care managed by their government. One doesn’t have to be swift at math to understand that putting all the profit sucked away by the insurance industry into care for all the people would cost less than the system we have.
Carl Doerner
Conway
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Many people think that the status quo in health care is sustainable. They are wrong.
Per capita health care costs in the United States rose to over $8,000 in 2009, and at their present rate of increase will surpass $16,000 by 2019.
Without the passage of comprehensive health care reform, the number of uninsured, inflation, unemployment, bankruptcy rates, taxes, trade deficits and budget deficits will all be increasingly higher than they would otherwise be.
We have the most expensive health care in the world, with per capita costs that are at least double those of any other country, and yet, compared to [people in] the vast majority of other advanced industrial countries, we live shorter, sicker lives: our infant mortality rate is higher, our life span is shorter, and we experience many more years of severe chronic debilitating illness.
Congress must pass comprehensive health care reform now so that millions of jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes will be saved, so that millions of personal bankruptcies will be prevented, and so that we and our children and grandchildren may be able to live longer, healthier lives.
Kevin Costa
via email
More on Inserts
I have never written to a newspaper before, but I feel the need to reply to Messrs. Hartshorne (Letters, Feb. 4, 2010) and Chappell (Letters, Feb. 18, 2010) regarding their concern about the pollution caused by the advertising inserts in the newspaper.
Chappell indicates the inserts are annoying. I find the writer’s attitude annoying. In these difficult economic times, many of us have taken to clipping coupons such as those contained in the inserts in order to help make ends meet. He appears to also miss the point the editor mentioned in reply to Hartshorne: that the inserts provide income to allow the publication of a free paper he is, apparently, not too insulted to peruse.
Advertising is a fact of modern life, and perhaps he should get used to it. At least the Advocate doesn’t make invasive telephone calls at dinner time. As for the inserts falling out and ending up as roadside trash, Chappell might try to exercise some minimal care in his handling of this great liberal rag and avoid the first of those problems. I also think that the second problem is best addressed by scolding those who toss the inserts to the roadside, rather than the paper, which doesn’t appear to actively promote such activity.
Although I can’t disagree with his point that, environmentally speaking, nothing beats not producing something in the first place, I would much rather have something recyclable produced than something that is far more polluting to produce and must be relegated to a landfill.
Follow the editor’s advice to Hartshorne and just leave the inserts behind for recycling. I don’t doubt that some appreciative soul will make use of them before they get picked up.
Ron Sabetta
Springfield
I couldn’t disagree more with Max Hartshorne at GoNomad.com and Don Chappell of Wendell regarding the advertising inserts that the Valley Advocate carries. I pick up the Advocate every week to read the articles and clip coupons from the SmartSource coupon flier that is inside. I depend on the savings that coupons provide when I food shop for my family. I spend time every week matching up my clipped coupons with grocery store sales fliers and shopping thoughtfully to make sure that I get the most value and nutrition for my dollar.
My husband and I both work full time, we have two small children and we own our home. If you don’t want the coupon flier, simply leave it behind in the bin when you pick up your Advocate. I’m pretty sure that someone like me will come along and be happy to find an extra one to take. Or, as was pointed out by the Advocate, they remove what isn’t taken and recycle it.
Gwen Rankins
Hampden
