HEALTH CARE: All too many deaths are preventable
BAMBI LIN LITCHMAN; Tacoma
The health care reform battle is sickening. Many members of Congress adore their superlative health care plans, while constituents are dying from lack of insurance or going bankrupt from medical expenses although they actually have insurance.
Health insurance companies are not benevolent institutions. They contribute heavily to many congressional campaigns. They spend more than $` million a day in ads and lobbying to defeat reform. They want no competition from a public option. They prefer raising premiums, denying claims and refusing coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
Health insurance companies are in the business of providing profits to their stockholders. Your health care is secondary.
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof notes that Republican president Teddy Roosevelt fought for national health insurance in 1912. Republican president Richard Nixon supported universal coverage in 1974. Democratic president Bill Clinton fought for reform in 1993.
Kristof notes that 45,000 people die annually due to lack of insurance. That’s one preventable death every 12 minutes. He concludes this is a moral blot on a great nation. He is right. The most civilized nations in the world have health care for all. It is tragic that we lag so far behind.
