Kari Bach wrote of her concerns that no details regarding the proposed health care legislation are provided to the public (Aug. 4). She is absolutely right. The current health care reform being formulated in Washington behind closed doors is an absolute watered-down failure. Now Congress plans to make it a federal offense not to purchase insurance in this faulty plan.

As an elderly woman on Medicare, I have worked for many years in hopes of seeing everyone covered under this same plan. Last Friday, like a bolt from the blue, Speaker Nancy Pelosi committed to bringing a single-payer health plan to a vote before the full House of Representatives. This will occur when the chamber reconvenes to debate national health care reform in September. About time!  

Single-payer bills have been introduced repeatedly over the past 60 years, but none has ever reached the floor of the House or Senate. Why? Because the all powerful insurance and pharmaceutical industries have been able to spend vast sums of money to lobby against it. Private insurers hate this plan because it would cut into their profits. Their profits — roughly $10 billion annually — are dwarfed by the money they waste in search of more profits especially in marketing and lobbying politicians. The main thrust of private insurance has always been to enroll the healthy while denying the sick.

The single-payer health plan would save $400 billion annually by insuring ourselves under one national plan instead of forced to deal with over 1,500 private insurers and their constant fighting with hospitals and physicians over bills and denials. Doctors and hospitals spend billions more meeting insurers’ demands for documentation. The $400 billion savings would be enough to cover all the uninsured and to upgrade coverage for all Americans. We would no longer be under the thumbs of the health insurance industry

The single-payer plan is a comprehensive, and high-quality coverage: free choice of doctor and hospital, and no co-pays or deductibles through a public system similar to Medicare. A single-payer system would also possess strong cost-control tools such as bulk purchasing of drugs (which is why the pharmaceutical industry hates it), negotiation of fees and global budgeting. Remember, we would pay a tax, but no private health insurance premiums.

Who is for this plan? Over 59 percent of all physicians, including President Obama’s personal physician for 22 years, Dr. David Scheiner, who is appearing in the media nationwide, and medical students, nurses, health providers, church organizations and millions of citizens.

However, we should all be on guard for attacks against the single-payer plan. Especially from the Republican Party who openly profess “Medical care is not even a moral right in the U.S unless you can pay for it.” They believe private enterprise should remain in charge, but Wendell Potter, a former health insurance industry insider, has this to say, “Big for-profit insurers have hijacked our health care system and turned it into a giant ATM for Wall Street investors.” 

This time don’t let them fool you with their scare tactics.  

Mary Milliron

Hollandale