Jon Edwards: Profit motive is what’s really killing health care
Re “Killing Obamacare?” (Page 1D, Dec. 4): I am part of the health-care problem. Part of the 10 percent Dr. C.V. Allen talks about (older Americans). First, I need to apologize for not having had health insurance when I was young and thought I would live forever. And apologize for having health insurance since 1979 when the Teamster Trust paid my hospital bills after an intoxicated driver slammed into my old car on Christmas Day as I was on the way to work.
Consider the cost of health insurance. We get no health insurance for the dollars paid to the exchange employees, from the profits of insurance companies, from the for-profit hospitals that are gobbling up faith based non-profits and from the cost of drugs that have increased beyond most Americans’ ability to pay. When it comes to Medicare, many would agree it has been bought and paid for. Often the payroll deduction is more than the deduction for income tax. If we really want healthcare for everyone, everyone could be rolled into Medicare.
Jon Edwards, Modesto
This story was originally published December 7, 2016 at 1:54 PM with the headline "Jon Edwards: Profit motive is what’s really killing health care."