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Health Coverage in the Balance - New York Times

To the Editor:

It is amazing how the presidential candidates are determined to come up with health insurance programs that are invariably complicated, often tied to employers, and frequently based on taxation gimmicks. They seem to ignore the one insurance program that is overwhelmingly popular and already has infrastructure in place: Medicare.

It is a highly efficient program that confounds all the critics of government-run health care. There are no restrictions on choosing doctors, the medical providers do not work for the government, and the processing of insurance claims is virtually transparent to the consumer.

In fact, from a consumer standpoint, Medicare is the best health insurance program ever invented.

The easiest solution to the problem of health care coverage, without resorting to one of the half-baked schemes offered by the candidates, is to simply offer Medicare coverage to anyone who wants it.

Of course, indigent people would be given a break on premiums. Employers could still offer insurance coverage if they wish, as a way of attracting employees. And if an individual does not like Medicare coverage he can still go to the private market.

As for states enacting their own insurance plans, sure, go to it. But let's also offer consumers another choice: voluntary Medicare. Then, the consumers themselves, not the politicians, can decide whether they want public or private health insurance.

Ron Sheppe
Rochester, N.H., Sept. 23, 2007

And speaking of hitting the nail on the head:

To the Editor:

Paul Krugman's mention of the scare tactics of health care reform opponents should have included the demonization of universal health care by the news media among his fears ("Health Care Hopes," column, Sept. 21).

Despite polls suggesting a high popularity for such a system, the news media regurgitate myths and fail to explain the proposals of the health care debate. Single-payer health care is frequently described as "government run" or "socialized medicine," even though the Canadian, French and German systems involve private doctors, hospitals and other caregivers who merely get paid by the government. Even Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's tempered proposal that would involve a private-government partnership did not escape inaccurate accusations.

Until the mainstream media stop distorting reality on behalf of the industry, health care reform will remain at the fringe of political viability, and it will be dead on arrival for the foreseeable future.

Spyros Andreopoulos
Stanford, Calif., Sept. 21, 2007

The writer is director emeritus, Office of Communication and Public Affairs, Stanford University Medical Center.