Health care in a perfect world

 To the editor:

Over and over the right wing echo chamber spews out the same basic message which is that the American people oppose what has been branded, "Obamacare" by about two to one and over and over the so called main stream media reports it as news. The good news, if any, is that it is the truth. The bad news is that the they don't bother to explain that the people opposed include the far right (that would probably oppose the sun coming up tomorrow if President Obama favored it), misinformed people who have read and heard more misinformation about what the bills contains that actual about its contents and the far left that is still holding out for replacing the current for profit system health insurance system with a Canadian type single payer system. Take away the latter two groups and it is probably safe to say that only about a quarter of the population would oppose the better than nothing but not good enough bill that will most likely be voted on by congress.

Ask anyone who has actually sought the truth about the American health care system and they will tell you that the United States spends more person on health care than any member of the United Nations except  East Timore and over twice that of the average spent by all OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) members, while leaving at least 15% of its population completely uninsured. Ask anyone who has actually sought the truth and they will tell you that life expectancy in the United States lags behind that of every so called rich nations and many poverty stricken ones such as Cuba. Ask anyone who sought the truth and they will tell you that the infant mortality rate in the United States ranks 46th in the world, according to our own CIA, behind that of every so called rich nation and once again behind that of some poor ones such as Cuba.

In addition to outright lies about the quality of health care in the United States, and its cost, is misleading information. such as thrown out by George Will on ABC's This Week. Addressing the outrage about skyrocketing health insurance premiums he said that if all the profits made by health insurance companies were applied to paying for the cost of health care in the United States it would pay for only two days of said cost a year and I could visualize heads of the once more misinformed population nodding up and down in agreement without bothering to analyze his statement. The question should be how many days of the cost of operating for profit health insurance companies would this profit pay for, not the total cost of healthy care. The question is how many more days of the cost of operating for profit health insurance companies would this amount pay for if their administrative cost was that of Medicare (about 3%) instead of approximately 25%. Oh how easy it is to mislead the masses, especially those who get most of their information from sources such as Limbaugh and Beck.

If there was a chance in hell of a single payer, Canadian type, health insurance system being adopted, I would oppose the better than nothing bit not good enough bill that will be voted on by congress but that is about as likely as the sun not coming up tomorrow. In my opinion the option on the table has been so watered down to appeal to health insurance companies and Republicans that it is nearly, but not totally, useless. In a fairy tale world populated by intelligent people, capable of setting politics aside, people would be filling the streets demanding a Canadian style single payer insurance system. In such a world people would recognize the fact that wealthy people can afford the best heath care but that the masses need affordable care. In such a world people would accept the fact that lowering the cost of health care requires elimination of useless and superfluous procedures and possibly options such as subscribing to physician run medical clinics. In such a world people would be demanding that health insurance company executives who have been paid multimillions of dollars for restricting health insurance coverage should pay restitution or be jailed. Too bad this is not that fantasy world.

In the real world we have to take what we can get and try to find candidates who are willing to represent we the people, instead of big money interests willing to finance their reelection campaigns, in the future.

Sincerely,

Charles Leach

Lynchburg