Leave lawyers out of medical settlements

Thank you for printing Charles Krauthammer's article "A better plan for health care reform" today. Although I have three lawyers in my family, I agree wholeheartedly with his suggestions that lawyers be left out of medical settlements and for the establishment of insurance plans that follow the person, not the companies.

I was hit by a truck when I was a young traveling salesman and received a ruptured disc from the encounter. Unfortunately, the relatively small settlement I received, minus 30 percent and legal fees, has not covered 47 years of back pain. This was partially my fault for not wanting to fake a lot of pain during the trial, but more importantly, when I wanted to move to another company to enhance my future, I was afraid of a medical exam before taking the new position and would not lie on my application on the disc problem. I retired from the original company I started to work for.

Charles should be complimented on his articulate and the good suggestions expressed.

Jack Thorne

Glen Ellyn