The June 28 letter “Unalienable right” ask a most pertinent question on managing expensive healthcare: “When will we stop wasting energy on the politics of replacing Obamacare and ramp up the conversation on what makes healthcare expensive in the first place?”
Now we have an inefficient free-market/socialist jumble that ties coverage to employment, age, and income, with millions falling through the gaps. Vested interests, including doctors, hospitals, insurers, drug companies, and malpractice lawyers, try to make as much money as possible from the sick. This makes our healthcare absurdly expensive compared to the rest of the world, but these interests don’t want that to change.
Meanwhile, Republicans see healthcare as a commodity that one can either afford or not. They want to begrudgingly and stingily cover [sic] those who cannot so they don’t have to tax the wealthy to do so. But is healthcare not a basic necessity, like police and fire protection, that government should ensure everyone gets?
Americans, we need to decide.
JOANNE MILES, HOLLYWOOD
