Letter: Capitalism often at odds with health care

Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007 | 7:21 a.m.

The Oct. 5 issue of the Las Vegas Sun had a story about abuse of the J-1 doctors program, which provides doctors to communities lacking sufficient medical care, and a separate editorial about long-term-care insurance claim denial procedures.

Both the story and editorial demonstrate the inherent conflict of interest in a health care system based on a for-profit motive. Business cannot serve too many poor people, sick people, old people or people too remote as they are expensive and inefficient for profit making.

While a nonprofit government-delivered health care system has been widely unacceptable and feared by many as "socialized medicine," we would be wise to learn to accept that all of our needs are not suitable for privatization and profit.

Mistrust of government is at the core of the issue and finding a way to provide for our health care within a capitalistic system has largely eluded us. To profit a business must do things right; but good government must do the right things. They are seldom the same when providing services to sick people.

Marilyn Lindemulder, Henderson