Health care costs out of control

Last year, I was furloughed by United Airlines two years after the birth of three of our four children, including a son born with chronic kidney disease. While employed with United, the coverage was excellent - but the cost of my premiums grew by a factor of four while my airline wages stagnated and shrank in the aftermath of Sept. 11 and United's bankruptcy.

If not for social safety nets, and the excellent benefits provided by my wife's employer (FedEx Ground) for her part-time work, we would be in bankruptcy now. For almost 50 million Americans, there are no health care benefits, and the social safety nets are slim, especially when it comes to preventive care, early intervention for illness or disease, or adequate care for chronic, life-threatening conditioning.

Yes, there are more than 7,000 emergency rooms in the U.S., but this constitutes minimal care (at great expense) for those who have no other choice, and these costs are always passed on to those who have insurance.

The U.S. is the only developed nation without comprehensive national health care for all of its citizens, and the costs of health care for everybody, insured or not, are out of control. I urge everyone to contact your elected representatives to demand health care transformation, with a competitive public option, now.

Stephen Michaelson

Carol Stream