Public health-care option is needed

Contrary to what conservatives want us to believe, good governments can and do run things better and far more efficiently than private businesses, for whom maximizing profits all too often trumps everything else.

Health care is one of the best examples of this. Having lived on four continents and in five countries, including five years in Canada and 12 in Germany, I can say unequivocally that the Canadian single-payer program is the best and the American program the worst. Lest you misunderstand, I have always had robust health insurance during my time in the U.S. During the five years I spent in Canada, I saw my doctors any time I needed to with no restrictions on prescriptions or tests/procedures. Best of all, I didn't have to puzzle through cryptic medical bills.

Let's face it, the American health care system is bureaucratic, complicated, restrictive, sometimes patronizing, and most damning of all, enormously inefficient, costly, and sometimes inhumane. Because American health care is provided privately, Americans pay for inflated profits. Expecting employers to provide insurance means that our businesses are less competitive in world markets. For the good of the nation it is imperative that we provide individuals with a public option for health care to increase competition to lower costs and loosen the grip of private corporations.

Nobody would be forced to choose the public option. These companies are fighting this with huge sums of money because they stand to lose, but right now they are winning at our expense. While the public option will not come cheap, what we currently are paying is outrageous. We simply can't afford not to introduce a carefully drawn up and realistic public option now. This nation's future is literally at stake.

Lanlan Hoo

Wheaton