Book club explores healthcare
To the Editor:
After careful consideration, the St. Anthony’s Book Study group believes we need to move to a universal, single-payer, national health insurance plan. It would work with no deductible or co-insurance, but with co-pays for specialty care and prescription drugs, funded by centrally collected taxes that everyone pays.
It is modeled after the Commonwealth Fund rankings of other countries, which provide reasonable healthcare costs and encourage people who can afford it to buy private insurance. This system would afford us better healthcare and wouldn’t limit gaps in coverage or leave our citizens at risk for personal bankruptcy. This type of healthcare would give us an opportunity to live longer and provide options for choosing a plan we like. We need the American public to be educated and engaged and to participate in coalition building, which is compatible with the American culture.
Through education, the public can learn about the flaws of the U.S. healthcare system. The U.S. could save $500 billion conservatively in healthcare costs with a universal, single-payer, national health insurance plan, which would create a larger net tax reduction on workers, businesses and the public.
We invite you to educate yourself by reading Dr. Brad Spellberg’s book “Broken, Bankrupt, and Dying,” which provides an excellent resource on how our healthcare system can be improved. You can come to your own conclusion on the benefits of a universal, single payer national insurance plan.
Nancy Stone, Marlene Metzger, Tom Thompson, Loxi Hopkins, Tom Hopkins, Matt Wissing, Larry Duke, Marie Christian, Charles Pannazzo, Ted Kurt, Ruth Ann Gallagher and Mary Maher.
St. Anthony’s Book Study, St. Anthony Parish, Davenport
