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Our democracy is certainly in a sorry condition when insurance companies spend more than a million dollars a day to campaign against Obama's health reform plan and to spread lies in order to protect their excessive profits, which have already increased more than 400 percent in the last decade.
For example, there was the false claim that the government would set up “death panels.” But what do you think is happening now? Insurance companies regularly raise premiums so that fewer people can afford their policies. They routinely decide whom they will cover and to whom they will deny coverage. Later, they decide whose policy they will terminate when someone becomes ill and needs insurance the most. How many more people must die because insurance companies do not allow them the medical services which could save their lives?
Actually, in health reform legislation, no “death panels” have ever been proposed. A public option would be something you could freely choose or reject — hardly a case of “big government taking over our lives.” Illegal aliens would not be covered. Reform would not necessitate an increase in the premiums of people who already have health insurance. The richest country on earth certainly has the necessary resources. Imperfections may exist in present government-run programs, but hardly to the extent claimed by many who speak against government involvement.
If you do not have health insurance now and you still oppose reform, including a public option, you are shooting yourself in the foot. If you are lucky enough to have health coverage through your employment or your own financial strength, what is your attitude toward the plight of those less fortunate than you? America should not remain the only developed nation which does not ensure health care for all its citizens.
Norman Oswald
Roseburg
For example, there was the false claim that the government would set up “death panels.” But what do you think is happening now? Insurance companies regularly raise premiums so that fewer people can afford their policies. They routinely decide whom they will cover and to whom they will deny coverage. Later, they decide whose policy they will terminate when someone becomes ill and needs insurance the most. How many more people must die because insurance companies do not allow them the medical services which could save their lives?
Actually, in health reform legislation, no “death panels” have ever been proposed. A public option would be something you could freely choose or reject — hardly a case of “big government taking over our lives.” Illegal aliens would not be covered. Reform would not necessitate an increase in the premiums of people who already have health insurance. The richest country on earth certainly has the necessary resources. Imperfections may exist in present government-run programs, but hardly to the extent claimed by many who speak against government involvement.
If you do not have health insurance now and you still oppose reform, including a public option, you are shooting yourself in the foot. If you are lucky enough to have health coverage through your employment or your own financial strength, what is your attitude toward the plight of those less fortunate than you? America should not remain the only developed nation which does not ensure health care for all its citizens.
Norman Oswald
Roseburg
