Taking on critics of his health care letter
In response to Terry Gavin and Charles Peraino, who responded to my letter.
I get my facts from the many health care Internet Web sites available to any one with a computer.
People who cannot pay their medical bills will have their assets attached.
Hospital and doctors sell the claims to bill collectors, who bid on each claim according to how many assets the patient has. No assets, no bid.
That claim is written off to be paid by tax rebates (your taxes and mine, by the way) or additional premiums on health polices to cover the uninsured.
Gavin said they turn them over to collection agencies, but that's it.
That's blatantly untrue.
Nobody forces you into Medicare when you reach 65.
Your options including going without insurance, retaining your private insurance (oh, yes, you can ), signing over your Medicare rights and joining an HMO, to name a few.
His saying he worked with people on Medicare for 18 years is insurance jargon for having sold Medicare supplements or HMOs for 18 years.
I'm aware of the Walter Reed Hospital nightmare.
My only comment is that the present administration is much better at making veteran casualties than it is at taking care of them.
The wealthy and powerful come to this country for medical care because our hospitals and doctors are the best in the world and their wealth predicates they go to the head of the group. Money talks.
Writers to newspapers on this subject have one of three vested interest.
Financial , political or social. Gavin's being an insurance agent for 18 years make my guess that his interest is purely financial.
In short, it's called save our paycheck.
Peraino is a very cautious man.
After reading his letter, I'm convinced he feels that in spite of the physical and financial devastation of millions of our citizens because of our for-profit health care system Ã¢â‚¬â€ť which, by the way, took 52 years to evolve to this stage.
He apparently feels we should give our present system 52 more years to work out the minor kinks and the social injustices it perpetuates.
Hurricane Katrina, by the way, has nothing to do with our health-care bill-paying dilemma.
He asks why people from other countries are coming here for medical attention. The answer is money.
They have lots of it and that puts them in front of the average chump in our health care system.
Our government's managing of most government programs is pretty dismal , but Medicare and Social Security are not among them.
I have been on both for longer than I care to admit.
And have never once had to call ether office to ask where my check was or why my health-care claim wasn't paid.
Not a bad record for a government that can do nothing right when it comes to social programs.
Richard Rohlfing
Elgin