Government-run care doesn’t add up

My son recently added his new baby girl to his company's health plan. It cost more than $70 a week, way in excess of what he pays for himself. This, I hear, is normal for company plans when you add dependents.

On the Web, we found many alternatives - roughly the same deductibles, co-pays, etc., but for only $70 to $80 a month. Then consider President Barack Obama's plan estimated at $1.5 trillion over 10 years. There are roughly 50 million uninsured, but 15 million are illegal immigrants, which I assume we taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for, so that's roughly 35 million. Do the math, 35 million people at $70 to $80 per month for insurance just like you and I have. For 10 years, it's $336 billion. More than $1 trillion less than the Obama plan.

Simply providing insurance, via something similar to the earned income tax credit, would require virtually no government program/overhead - just direct payments to people for insurance.

I'm concerned about turning health care over to the government. Something doesn't add up.

Jay R. Lewis

Cedar Rapids