Health Care

I was born in an Osteopathic hospital in 1937. At the time, it was the least expensive option available; an important consideration for working class parents during the Great Depression.

During more than seven decades since then, I have received medical care through most of the possible program structures:
a: No insurance - just pay the doctor;
b: Provided directly by the government - in my case, at military treatment facilities;
c: Provided by employer through private health insurance;
d: Single payer government paid health insurance - CHAMPUS, TRICARE, MEDICARE.

The only possible program I have never participated in is private purchase of private health insurance. One of our sons has done that.

It is great that both houses of Congress have passed health care reform bills. May they be quickly reconciled. We owe it to ourselves and our posterity to provide universal health care benefits. We are the only advanced country that doesn't.

Universal health care systems in other countries all result in better health outcomes at lower cost to society. I would have preferred either a straight system of government health care like that in Great Britain and the United States Veteran's Administration or a single-payer system like Medicare. But something is better than nothing. Once we get a system in place, we can make it better.

Next we need a real public option.