Letter: Government health care could save us money

Saturday, Oct. 6, 2007 | 1:39 a.m.

President Bush has vetoed a bill that would have expanded health care to about 4 million more children. He claims that it is "socialized medicine" or government-run health care. He thinks this makes it unacceptable.

Let me remind the president that we already have government health care systems in place and they have been accepted by the public. They are Medicare, Medicaid and the VA for the veterans. I don't believe the president or the Congress (mainly the Republicans) are going to eliminate these plans because they are "socialized medicine."

When are the president and the Congress (again, mainly the Republicans) going to realize that our present health care is controlled by the insurance companies and is inadequate?

I've written before that if we were to expand our functioning Medicare system to everyone, it would benefit all parties involved in health care. Obviously, the people wouldn't have to worry about going broke if they had a crisis involving their health, companies would reduce their costs because they would not have to provide health care to employees, and even the doctors would benefit because there would be a single payer and they wouldn't have the problem of dealing with various insurance companies' requirements, again saving costs.

I realize we would have to pay for this system. It would require tax increases. I can't prove what the cost to the individual would be, but I bet if you included the money everyone is saving , there would also be a cost saving. I'll leave it up to those who can figure those things out.

Bernard Mesco, Las Vegas