Have good insurance? Why shouldn’t others?

Perhaps there are congressional opponents to government involvement in health care who are sincere, but it's hard to understand why people with good government insurance don't think others should have equally good coverage.

What is so scary about government involvement in health care? I and millions of others who receive coverage under Medicare or Medicaid are well served. I'd rather have government making decisions about my care than an insurance company whose sole concern is maximizing profits. We have health care rationing now: If you can afford care, you get it; if you can't, you don't.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has been outspoken in this debate. Last summer, he smirked on the evening news that there would not be a public option. Here in Iowa, when a constituent asked why he couldn't have coverage like the senator, his reply was, “If you want insurance like mine, run for office, like I did.”

Is Grassley sincere, although misinformed, in his reluctance to provide regulation and competition for private, for-profit health insurance? Or could he possibly be influenced by the $150,000 campaign contribution he received from the health industry in the third quarter?

Affordable health care is a human right, not just a senatorial one. Our current system is unjust. The 47 million uninsured in our country deserve equal health care. It's an issue of fairness, not profit.

Kathleen J. Hall

Cedar Rapids