Virgil A. Sestini, Las Vegas

Mon, Jun 30, 2008 (2:02 a.m.)

Conservatives and John McCain continue to cry out against a national health care system. They moan about the excessive costs, citing billions of dollars should the plan be implemented. Why is it they can justify trillions in debt incurred by the Bush administration principally because of our involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but have no compassion for millions of Americans who cannot afford basic health insurance?

John McCain should answer these questions:

• We can build hospitals, provide health care and repair infrastructure for people whose culture teaches them to despise Western civilization and all that it means, so why can’t our country afford to pay health care costs for its own citizens?

• Why does he proclaim that a $5,000 tax credit for citizens wanting health insurance will be enough to offset major costs of private insurance? Where’s his guarantee that private companies will not raise their premiums and profits to match his tax rebate offer? What about those families that simply cannot afford insurance even with the stipend?

• How can he justify continuing a shameful national policy of allowing so many people to endanger their lives by going without health insurance?

• Why are we the only major country without universal health care for its people? Explain how countries such as Canada, Ireland, England, Germany, France, Italy and Spain can afford universal health care but we cannot. Is it because conservatives are in the pocket of insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry and the health profession?