U.S. healthcare

Dear Editor: In response to Mr. David Coppell’s letter about greed in the healthcare system, I agree totally and have the following observations.

I like President Obama but his health bill fell short of the mark of a single-payer system. Insurance companies are still involved and 40 percent of premiums go for their profit. The CEOs make $8 million per year plus perks, and thus profit from people’s misery. I am in remission from cancer and you don’t want to see my bills after Medicare.

Supplemental insurance is a racket. In England where I was born, everybody who works pays 11 percent of their salary up to $30,000 per year. If you make $1 million per year, it is still only deducted up to $30,000 so there is no disincentive to achieve more. If it is deemed that your wages are too low or if you are unemployed, then nothing is deducted. There are no insurance companies involved and no billing at all as doctors and nurses are all on salary. Thus catastrophic injuries do not bankrupt people as they do in the U.S.

The insurance lobby has a stranglehold on Congress members who enjoy paid-for healthcare at our expense but not for the public at-large. Corporations should not have to pay healthcare for their employees; corporations would be more profitable and hire more people to pay into the pool and help the economy.

When I was in England last year, a lady from Oregon came down with an illness involving her breathing. She was treated over a period of five weeks and when she asked where she should pay, they said to her, “It’s England – there is no charge and enjoy the rest of your holiday.” Before you tell me to go back to England, I have been a citizen of the U.S. for many years and paid taxes since 1966. I have raised two sons and my youngest is in a very elite group in the U.S. Air Force. I don’t think we get good value for a divided government which gets us into useless wars costing trillions of dollars and turns a blind eye to 90 gun killings each day here at home.

Most of our government officials have become millionaires in office and don’t care about the general public.

Colin Clarke

Downey

**********

Published: July 31, 2014 - Volume 13 - Issue 16