‘Government option’ sounding better daily

It was no surprise to find in Sunday's Gazette a four-page insert advocating for the status quo regarding American health care. Ostensibly it was prepared by “your licensed health insurance agents,” but it is hard to imagine that the insurance companies, or some other deep-pocketed organization with a self-interest to keep health insurance the way it is, didn't foot the bill. I believe that this nation badly needs health care reform, so I naturally read the tract critically. There were lots of statistics, but no sources, so their accuracy is suspect.

The most interesting part was the admission that the insurance companies couldn't control themselves from “deviat[ing] from the basic concepts of insurance” in their quest to one-up each other in denying customers coverage for pre-existing conditions. My heart bleeds for the insurers' plight, as they essentially admit that cutthroat capitalism (or was it the devil?) made them do it. In essence, the companies are admitting they have an image problem related to highly publicized denials of coverage.

In their solution to the pre-existing conditions mess, its wording was so incomprehensible that I defy anyone to figure its meaning. Part of their option 4 seems to say that those who can't afford to pay for health care will be forced into indentured servitude. Is that a solution? I'll take the “government option” any day.

Jonathan Ice

Cedar Rapids