Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Re “Let’s Get Fundamental,” by David Brooks (column, Sept. 4):

Mr. Brooks has it exactly right. Fundamental change in our dysfunctional and overpriced health care system is absolutely necessary, and it will be impossible to achieve that transformation while protecting the huge profits of big corporate contributors to Congress.

Allowing Congress, itself dysfunctional and unable to look beyond industry lobbyists, to craft a mosaic that reinforces the most expensive and wasteful processes within our present system was a near-fatal mistake.

For those of us who fervently supported President Obama as an agent of change, settling for some Band-Aids on the present bloated systems, which focus on profit rather than on health, is a missed opportunity of colossal proportions. Not change we can believe in.

Ray Bellamy
Tallahassee, Fla., Sept. 4, 2009
The writer is an orthopedic surgeon.

Note from KBJ: The profit motive—call it greed if you will—is the engine of prosperity. Perhaps the letter writer should stick to surgery.