Health care must be addressed now

Dear President Obama: I was an avid supporter of yours during the campaign - I canvassed in three states on your behalf. I understand you inherited overwhelmingly difficult problems from your predecessor and you can't solve all of them at once.

I very strongly believe that the most important of these issues is the health-care crisis. Everyday, I hear stories of people losing their jobs and, as a result, losing their health insurance.

Millions of Americans are already without health insurance. People are dying - not because there is no treatment available - but because they can't afford the treatment. In many instances, because people have no health insurance, they wait too long to see the doctor and, by the time they get help, their illness has progressed so far that no treatment can save them.

The economy is a serious problem and moving to a universal, single-payer health-care system, as all other industrialized nations have done, would help the economy greatly. The cost of health insurance burdens businesses so much that, many of them that are struggling or even going bankrupt, would be financially solvent if they did not have to provide health insurance for their workers.

With your stimulus plan, you are helping the banks who, in turn, are supposed to lend money to small business owners. Unfortunately, many people who might start a small business are afraid to do so, because to leave their jobs means to lose their health insurance.

How can we expect to bring our economy back if people are afraid to take chances?

I know you want to fix the horrific health-care issues we face but, when you say you want to make sure all Americans have health insurance, you are missing the mark. All Americans need health CARE, not insurance. We need to get the insurance companies out of the picture, as other industrialized nations have done.

I believe you have the strength and integrity to fight the massive lobbies that stand in the way of single-payer health care. I also believe you have the power to persuade members of Congress to support you.

It is shameful that millions of people go without health care because they have no insurance and cannot afford treatment. It is shameful that people suffer and die because they can't afford the overpriced drugs they need. While the insurance and pharmaceutical companies have profits in the billions, people are dying.

This is SHAMEFUL! Please do something about this!

Lori Degman

Vernon Hills