U.S. must fix out-of-control health costs

Tom Harper, Henderson

Friday, Aug. 21, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

In Dave Mesker’s letter to the editor in Thursday’s Las Vegas Sun, headlined “Leave health care fixing to providers,” he states that health care should not be left up to President Barack Obama. He questions President Obama’s health care background and then asks why health care can’t be put in the hands of providers, including hospitals and insurance companies.

Health care problems are what presidents are supposed to address, even though the Bush administration never did. Mr. Mesker’s suggestion to allow providers, such as hospitals and insurance companies, to resolve the problem is like the “fox watching over the hen house.”

When would opponents of health care reform suggest that providers address a problem that is so catastrophic that there are 47 million Americans uninsured, including 341,000 Nevadans, 107,000 of whom are children?

Are health care reform opponents suggesting we wait another 16 or 17 years, as we’ve waited since insurance companies and other big money interests prevented this country from implementing reform as proposed by the Clinton administration?

We need health care reform now. Our economic woes and future ones are inextricably related to a failed health care system wherein every 30 seconds, an American files for bankruptcy protection because of a catastrophic health problem and where health care expenses are skyrocketing without proper control. Insurance companies are getting richer every day because there is not sufficient competition in the industry.

We must bring under control a health care system that, if not fixed, will bankrupt this nation.