‘Our Health Care Is Sick’

“Our Health Care Is Sick” goes the heading on an editorial (Jan. 16) and assuredly a fair appraisal it is.

The term “socialized medicine” is anathema to many Americans and just in my lifetime I have observed a number of stopgap measures that have been devised to forestall such a horror.

The first effort was the organization of Veterans Administration Hospitals to care for the needs of World War I veterans. Then came individual private health insurance. About 1965 Medicare and Medicaid were adopted to provide reasonable health care for the aged and disabled. Now they are thumping the tubs for universal employer-sponsored health care insurance.

The result has been a costly and complicated system that provides excellent to adequate care for most of us but still does little for another 35 million people.

A Dutch traveler observed that the U.S. was a great place to visit but don’t get sick there unless you have plenty of insurance. The Times is correct; significant reforms are in order.

ROBERT MILLS

Cypress