Letter: Perils of a broken health care system

Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2007 | 7:13 a.m.

The reason that the move toward universal health care is finally taking hold is because more and more Americans are suffering the physical and economical perils of the current health care system. People who think they are protected from debilitating illnesses are finding out that the need for insurance companies to make a profit far outweighs their desire to keep us healthy.

Why should a preexisting condition exclude someone from obtaining health insurance? Why should an insurance company be allowed to deny tests that have been recommended by a doctor who spends his or her life studying and trying to cure people?

A recent study showed that half of all bankruptcies in the U.S. are caused by soaring medical bills. Most people sent into irreversible debt by illness are middle-class Americans who have health insurance. Every day more people are finding out that unless you're independently wealthy you are just one serious illness away from financial ruin or death.

Should people have to choose when to have children, make their career choices, and choose when to retire based on the availability of health insurance? Forty-seven million Americans don't even get to make those choices because they have no health insurance. And the number of uninsured keeps rising.

The system is broken and we are all just a stroke of bad luck away from financial disaster caused by the limits of our health care system. And don't expect Congress to do anything unless we keep the pressure on those lawmakers. They are all covered by a government-run health care system!

Phil Ventura, Las Vegas