Universal health care a better option

To the editor:

The debate over the Affordable Care Act is pointless. The ACA is an incomplete effort to cure our historical inability to adopt a universal single pay system. We should, as a people, provide health care to all. Here is the reason why: 'If one adds the cost of private insurance, the U.S. health care system is by far the most expensive in the world (nearly 20 percent of national income, compared with 10-12 percent in Europe), even though a large part of the population is not covered and health indicators are not as good as in Europe. There is no doubt that universal public health insurance systems, in spite of their defects, offer a better cost-benefit ratio than the U.S. system.” (Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century).

We are spending too much to achieve the goal of 'life,” which was among the objectives of the Declaration of Independence. Our Constitution requires government to provide for the general welfare. Universal health care must be undertaken. It should be a part of the general 'tax and spend” practice that has made this nation great.

Tracy Anderson

Kalona