Our health care system is broken. We need major reform. We need health care for all | Opinion

Health care for all

“Luigi Mangione Prosecutors Have a Jury Problem: ‘So Much Sympathy’,” (modbee.com, Dec. 18)

Capitalism is defined as an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit — including our health care system. When a health care system is based on making money and pleasing shareholders, how could anyone expect top flight goods and services for patients?

The loss of any human being to gun violence is a tragedy. UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s position in the company was the target, but he’s not the real problem — it’s the system we created.

When we base good health care on full-time jobs and billion dollar corporations making profits off of denying needed health care, the patient will always lose.

We need health care for all.

Tim de Lorimier

Modesto

Grossly unqualified Cabinet picks

“Yes, Trump’s Cabinet picks are shaking up Washington. That’s the whole point | Opinion,” (modbee.com, Nov. 23)

As Senate Democrats prepare to question the most unqualified, morally-compromised Cabinet nominees in U.S. history, a new strategy may be necessary to insure that the president-elect’s current picks are not confirmed.

Trying to logically convince Republican senators to vote “no” in the face of threats from Donald Trump and his sycophants won’t be enough. Besides demonstrating just how unfit Trump’s nominees are for the positions they seek, Democrats must turn as directly as possible to the American people, thereby making Republican senators fear their constituents’ electoral payback more than Trump’s intimidation tactics.

For example: Is this really the kind of ill-equipped Cabinet member you (dear Republican voter) authorized your senator to confirm?

Or better yet: If your senator can approve such a clearly unqualified candidate, how can you trust their judgment on other matters certain to affect your daily life?

These and similar questions must be raised during the hearings, essentially “going over the heads” of Republican senators to those who elected them. Reminding citizens of their power to hold their senators accountable should give those same senators pause before they consent to such a grossly unqualified Cabinet.

Mark S Haskett

Modesto

Columnist wisdom

“Trump’s threats — before even taking office — are characteristic of authoritarianism | Opinion,” (modbee.com, Dec. 5)

I want to thank The Modesto Bee for the regular columns by UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, who offers clarity on political and judicial issues, and Fresno State Philosophy Professor Andrew Fiala, who lends a clear-eyed voice from a philosophical and ethical perspective.

Their wisdom in these turbulent times is much appreciated.

Kent Mitchell

Riverbank