Why universal care makes sense

To the editor:

Health care is a current and long-term subject for all Americans. Our leaders in Washington and elsewhere are not being successful in presenting Americans with a fair, reasonably priced program.

Medicare is available to a large part of the population, and for those who participate, the cost is $1,198.80 annually. For that premium, approximately 80 percent of medical costs are covered, not including drugs. To cover the remaining 20 percent, I pay almost 2,800 annually. This is a strong argument for Medicare to cover the 20 percent for an estimated premium of $1,500 a year, total.

This alone is reason enough to have universal health care paid by the federal government through taxes.

The American public is not allowed to see what other countries do to provide their citizens health care at affordable prices. Canada has a system that is universal; no citizen/resident is denied care as a result of inability to pay, as the government pays all, funded by a tax on purchases.

My wife has been prescribed Abilify, 1-1/2 tablets daily. Total cost if bought in our local pharmacies – between $30 and $353 a day. I’d guess that most Americans could not afford this cost. If I could choose to buy from a foreign country, cost would be $1.25 per day, including postage. Prescription drug insurance is not necessarily the answer, as the rules are so complex as to require a consultant to sort it out, and even then the rules/coverage can change at a moment’s notice, making one’s efforts (and cost) for naught.

Can we look to our congressmen to help us? Certainly not, as the pharmaceutical industry has more voice than does the public.

Donald Bradley

Rye