Letter to the editor:

‘Free-market’ health care unsustainable

Mark Bennett, Las Vegas

Thursday, March 5, 2009 | 2:01 a.m.

As our national downward spiral of massive layoffs continues, with it goes employer-provided health insurance. The inevitable result is easily treatable medical problems going untreated and/or undertreated. The same applies to mental health issues covered by employers’ insurance plans.

Insurance companies suffer a loss of collected premiums and health care providers suffer a loss of billable services. The “free market” system of health care insurance companies “competing” for individual policies of laid-off/unemployed workers is unaffordable and, thereby, irrelevant.

Countless workers in a state of unemployed limbo running around with easily treatable medical/mental, high or low level and/or chronic maladies cannot possibly be in the best interests of production or the country’s well-being. It doesn’t make any sense.

The “free market” health care system is fundamentally flawed and obviously broken!

The U.S. is the only Western industrialized country in the world without national health care. The politics of funding it is just that, politics. What’s wrong with this picture?

Discussion: 5 comments so far…

By gunowners4obama

3/5/09 at 5:54 a.m.

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This is probably the next system that's going to collapse here. Imagine that, on top of what's already going on. Too much unchecked capitalist greed is taking this country down. Maybe it's time for a third major party beholden neither to the greedy nor the.
By oehw56

3/5/09 at 11:22 a.m.

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Unfortunately, the day has come for America to become just another Western Socialist country. Whether we want it (Socialism) or not President Obama is going to help us get there.
By hss46

3/5/09 at 2:17 p.m.

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Can you believe it. If you don't understand something, just call it socialism and everyong will agree its bad because that's easier than thinking it through and seeing if its good or bad. Anyone want to bet that oehw56 has good health insurance where he works? He's got his, and doesn't care if you get yours.

First of all, socialized medicine is what England has. Doctors work for, and get paid by, the government. Universal health insurance, i.e. not socialized medicine, is what they have in Canada and is what is being proposed for us. The doctors get paid by insurance companies on what amounts to a menu/fee for service basis, with caps imposed by a federal commission. Everyone, including the healthy, are covered, drug companies are not allowed to make exorbitant profits, and doctors can't earn $20,000,000 per year, so the per person cost is as low as possible, much lower than here. (If you think there are no doctors in Nevad earning $20,000,000 off our current system, you are both naive and not paying attention.) And no there are no 6 month waits for necessary surgery!

To show you how silly this debate is, I know a woman who has military health benefits because her husband is retired military. She is against "socialized medicine like Obama wants to give us" because she doesn't want the government telling her doctor what treatment she needs. I'm not joking!!!!

Most people think insurance companies make money if the premium income is greater than claims expenditure. Wrong my child--insurance companies are like bookies, they invest the premium dollars and hold on to them as long as possible investing them and their profit comes principally from the investment return, i.e. they make money on the "handle" and want the "handle" to be as large as possible. Hence you never hear an insurance company or their lobbyists complain that health care is rising too fast. Their too busy drooling.

No Virginia, there is a Santa Clause and its called our medical care system that makes doctors and insurance companies rich beyond their wildest dreams because no one has the political stomach to tinker with something that someone might call "socialism"!
By PhilVentura

3/5/09 at 3:42 p.m.

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I was on a trip recently and spoke with a nurse from Virginia who now works in Canada due to a recent marriage. She says the Canadian system is better than in the US since preventative care is accessible and therefore fewer sick people. No long waits for specialized care either. She says that is an american smokescreen.
By Future2012

3/5/09 at 4:53 p.m.

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"The "free market" health care system is fundamentally flawed and obviously broken!"

And what we want to do is follow down the Medicare, Medicad, and VA path to where. Both of this systems are under funded and do not provide choice and full coverage.