Re: "Where the Health Care Bill Fails"

6/26/17

To the editor:

Senator Ron Johnson (NYT, 6/26/17, Where the health care bill fails.) laments the health care bill before the Senate but for the wrong reasons.  He lauds the role of a free market economy and the place of the private sector to solve the health care problem in this country without recognizing that Obamacare was a response to the failure of such forces to solve the problem.  He denigrates the role of government in health care reform without recognizing that Medicare, albeit imperfect, is government run.  While he relies on his years of experience as an accountant in manufacturing to support his claims, he is unable to point to any country  successfully delivering health care to its citizens based on his naive assumptions.

Most egregious is his rejection of the pre-existing conditions clause that has brought peace of mind - and insurance - to millions who would otherwise be ineligible.  The inhumanity and arrogance of such a position is indefensible.  Mortality is our universal pre-existing condition and with that the likelihood we will all suffer with illness during our lifetimes.

Respectfully submitted,

Larry S. Sandberg, MD