What we need in this country is a Medicare-type system
letter to the editor
To the Editor:
A letter from an M.D. in last week's Post offered sound advice. You can tell he's pretty smart because he attained an M.D. and he relocated away from our four seasons to a paradise. Serious culture shock when the waiter brings your check.
So this really smart guy offered some sound advice on our confounded health system. "The convenience of holding a blind partisan view, either right or left, prevents a meaningful discussion in coming up with effective solutions." Well, that's a bit obvious. But how do you get around it? Solve that, and that's real brilliance! The right and left are so divided I fear another civil war could be in our future. But the disagreement won't be slavery this time. I'm afraid it might come down to education. I've been reading some fascinating facts, such as a Gallop poll shows 18 percent of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth!
Isaac Asimov asserts "There is a culture of ignorance in the United States ... nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs commissioned a civic education poll among public school students. Seventy-seven percent didn't know George Washington was the first president and couldn't name Thomas Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence, and only 2.8 percent could pass the citizenship test.
It doesn't get much better looking at our capitol: 74 percent of Republicans in the Senate and 53 percent of Republicans in the House deny the validity of climate change, despite the findings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and every other significant organization in the world. I guess that's why there were cheers at the news we were dropping out of the Paris Climate Accord.
This began as a discussion of health care, but ignorance and lack of education is complicit in the dilemma. Many people rejoiced at the news of ending "Obamacare" but were stunned that they were losing their benefits from the Affordable Care Act. They couldn't overcome their prejudices to understand the two were one and the same. Neither is in a "death spiral" of natural causes; the Republicans have engineered the demise because partisan games supersede the nation's health.
What Obama had in mind and what we need is a Medicare-type system. It's not a freebie. I paid into the fund every payday and pay a monthly tab now, plus I pay a hefty amount for my supplement through United Health Care. And yes, it burns me that the CEO gets several million a year. Yes, the system could be more efficient, but it beats the coverage I paid plenty for with my employer.
Martha Cosbey
Doylestown
A letter from an M.D. in last week's Post offered sound advice. You can tell he's pretty smart because he attained an M.D. and he relocated away from our four seasons to a paradise. Serious culture shock when the waiter brings your check.
So this really smart guy offered some sound advice on our confounded health system. "The convenience of holding a blind partisan view, either right or left, prevents a meaningful discussion in coming up with effective solutions." Well, that's a bit obvious. But how do you get around it? Solve that, and that's real brilliance! The right and left are so divided I fear another civil war could be in our future. But the disagreement won't be slavery this time. I'm afraid it might come down to education. I've been reading some fascinating facts, such as a Gallop poll shows 18 percent of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth!
Isaac Asimov asserts "There is a culture of ignorance in the United States ... nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs commissioned a civic education poll among public school students. Seventy-seven percent didn't know George Washington was the first president and couldn't name Thomas Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence, and only 2.8 percent could pass the citizenship test.
It doesn't get much better looking at our capitol: 74 percent of Republicans in the Senate and 53 percent of Republicans in the House deny the validity of climate change, despite the findings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and every other significant organization in the world. I guess that's why there were cheers at the news we were dropping out of the Paris Climate Accord.
This began as a discussion of health care, but ignorance and lack of education is complicit in the dilemma. Many people rejoiced at the news of ending "Obamacare" but were stunned that they were losing their benefits from the Affordable Care Act. They couldn't overcome their prejudices to understand the two were one and the same. Neither is in a "death spiral" of natural causes; the Republicans have engineered the demise because partisan games supersede the nation's health.
What Obama had in mind and what we need is a Medicare-type system. It's not a freebie. I paid into the fund every payday and pay a monthly tab now, plus I pay a hefty amount for my supplement through United Health Care. And yes, it burns me that the CEO gets several million a year. Yes, the system could be more efficient, but it beats the coverage I paid plenty for with my employer.
Martha Cosbey
Doylestown
