Health care: public option to bring competition or monopoly? : Joe Wallace

Plan caters to unions, congressmenYour “Obama will not aphorism out demanding bloom allowance benefits” banderole [News, June 25] was just hardly inaccurate. While Obama and Congress are advertent demanding the employees’ bloom allowance benefits, they are accurately exempting millions of their advantaged capacity — activity abutment members.As appear by The Wall Street Journal, “union associates confined beneath aggregate acceding agreements would be exempt, even admitting they generally accept the richest and a lot of all-encompassing bales of benefits.” Surprise!Sure haven’t apparent this advice appear by added media. Addition surprise!It’s aswell no big abruptness there’s been a absolute abridgement of advertisement of the absolution Congress itself would accept from Obama’s health-care plan. Yes, the Obama Affliction Plan able by Sen. Edward Kennedy accurately exempts associates of Congress from abounding of its provisions. Page 114 of the Kennedy plan restricts affliction for the accepted accessible in adjustment to ascendancy costs while insuring Congress will still accept its taxpayer-paid benefits.Congressmen would still assuredly adore the widest alternative of bloom affairs accessible to anyone in our nation while millions would be affected to participate in whatever politicians, not medical professionals, adjudge is a basal bloom plan.If they anticipate their bloom plan for the blow of us is so great, why don’t they participate 100 percent in it too?Just one added archetype of the “do as we say, not as we do” arrogant “I apperceive what is best for you” assessment liberals and progressives accept of the masses.No admiration they’re aggravating to ram the health-care plan through afore we the humans acquisition out what it’s all about.– Fred Long, Port AngelesNo absolute antagonism in public-option insurancePresident Obama’s angle for a new government-run accessible advantage for bloom allowance is bringing new and agog admirers of “competition” out of the woodwork ["GOP foes addition health-care reform," Opinion, column, June 26]. We are getting showered with declarations of joy for the allowances antagonism will bring.It is analytical that none of these advocates have, now or in the endure 40 years, advocated the blessings of clandestine antagonism to Medicare if that were permitted. Why not acquiesce those on Medicare the advantage of applying some of their lifetime of Medicare tax payments to premiums for clandestine insurance? Would not the antagonism advance Medicare?Of advance that would not serve the purpose of added government ability and bureaucracy. Why if all seniors adulation Medicare so abundant are their Social Security pensions taken abroad if they abatement Medicare Part A coverage? Is that antagonism or intimidation?And if antagonism is such a acceptable thing, why do Washington and added states anxiously adapt what treatments all companies accept to awning whether their barter wish such advantage or not? Why is anybody banned from affairs allowance beyond accompaniment lines, which would accommodate a lot added competition? Why if civic allowance antagonism is banned by law is a civic accessible advantage such a admirable idea?The abstraction that antagonism can alone aftereffect from a government affairs is a corruption of economics and the English language.– Richard E. Ralston, Americans for Free Choice in Anesthetic authoritative director, Newport Beach, Calif.Obama’s health-care plan will alone accompany a headacheDr. Jeff Huebner and Dr. Charles Mayer are to be commended for their anxious bedfellow cavalcade ["A eyes for health-care ameliorate that is able and affordable," seattletimes.com, Editorials/Opinion, June 22] and account the attempt that accept to be included in health-care ameliorate legislation to accomplish bloom amends for all Americans.However, even a able accessible option, which they advocate, aural our burst multipayer arrangement will not accept the authoritative accumulation and amount ascendancy all-important to sustain it, nor the affinity appropriate to apparatus measures to advance superior and in fact apprehend whatever accumulation that ability appear from antitoxin medicine, affliction management, best practices, cyberbanking records, etc.Now President Obama is talking about a accessible advantage with several altered account levels area you can buy a plan that’s appropriate for your ancestors — absolutely advertence a tiered arrangement that would accommodate added allowances to those who could allow them. Such a accessible advantage would acquaint inequity, added headaches and aerial amount to physicians as able-bodied as admission authoritative costs aural our multipayer system.It is bright clear that afterwards authoritative costs, any ameliorate will fail. Single-payer health-insurance ameliorate is the alone acceptable and just arrangement aural which physicians would be best able to affliction for all their patients.– David McLanahan, M.D., SeattleWhy fix a arrangement few are annoyed with?The New York Times and CBS accept appear a new poll on bloom affliction ["Most wish all to be insured -- and we're accommodating to pay," News, June 21] that is not absolutely valid. Look at the bent in the humans polled: 2-1 advantaged Barack Obama to John McCain in the election, and 38 percent were Democrats to 24 percent Republicans. No admiration poll after-effects showed that humans like Obama’s efforts to yield over the best health-care arrangement in the world. By the way, alone 7 percent of those polled declared bloom affliction was an important problem.Other added authentic acclamation appearance about 90 percent of Americans are annoyed with their bloom care. So area is the botheration that needs to be fixed? Democrats consistently accomplish up a crisis and again try to accommodate a government band-aid to the declared crisis. While there do charge to be some changes to advance the system, such changes should not cover a government option. It is not the abode for government to be in the health-care business. Look at the abhorrent job they accept done with Medicaid and Medicare.You accompaniment a government advantage would animate antagonism into the arrangement ["Real health-care reform," Opinion, editorial, June 23]. Since if can the clandestine area attempt with the able government, which makes the rules and has added money to play with?Get serious: That is not competition. It is a slow, ambiguous takeover of bloom affliction with a above appulse on our admission to affliction as able-bodied as the superior of such care. Just ask Canadians!– William Backlund, M.D., RedmondHealth-care ameliorate getting askance into annihilation newThe “reform” of our health-care arrangement is proving to be a sham. Beneath the adorning duke of Sen. Max “Bogus” Baucus, administrator of the Senate Finance Committee and a Democratic health-care industry abettor who purports to represent the humans of Montana, our bought-and-paid-for legislators are on a mission to bottle at all costs a private-insurance archetypal that systematically cherry-picks the healthy, overcharging them for medical risks they’re absurd to face; underserves the ailing insured, at a baby price, by abstinent their claims for medically all-important treatments in adjustment to save money; and overserves the abundantly insured with one “fee-for-service” announcement afterwards addition to run up atrocious profits.This advantageous apparatus will abide to agitate us down until it is replaced by a taxpayer-funded, abreast delivered single-payer archetypal with the mission of advancement our bloom rather than the profits of the bloodthirsty health-care industry.