The operative word in this plan is ‘option’

Patricia Keasling, Las Vegas

Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009 | 2:02 a.m.

I am a senior citizen of average intelligence, but I am confused by the confusion that is out there about health care reform. What part of option, as in public option, do these folks not understand?

Why can’t they understand that nowhere has it been written that your health care will be taken away. The public option will be just that, an option.

As health insurance is right now, a bureaucrat, albeit an insurance bureaucrat, can interfere with your care. Ever been denied coverage that the doctor deems necessary, but the insurance company does not?

Before he passed away, my husband had Parkinson’s disease for more than 20 years, so why was he not approved to see a neurologist his last two years of life? Before that, we paid for a neurologist out of pocket.

And are the premiums of all of these people going down? Mine have been raised year after year! And I work, because I have to have health insurance.

I am 63, so I’m not eligible for Medicare, and because I have preexisting conditions (high blood pressure), I cannot buy insurance. If I lose my job, as many Americans have, I lose my care. The burden will then become a taxpayer burden.

What are these people thinking? Insurance that is available to everyone at a reasonable price, and not being dropped if you get sick, is a no-brainer!

What we have now is awful. It is portioned out, there are long waits for appointments, and long waits for urgent care, with interference by bureaucrats.

So, what is the downside to reform? I must be missing something.