Health care is a personal responsibility

In letters to the editor we keep reading about "our health care system." In reality there is not and cannot be any such thing as a health care system. There are only the various practices of individuals or groups seeking to preserve their health, prevent disease and - if possible - ward off bankruptcy.

Health care does not emerge from a system, like candy coming off a conveyor belt. It is a personal responsibility, having to do with diet, exercise and stress management.

Those who expect the federal government (the same government that has done such a wonderful job with our economy and foreign policy) to care for our health are kidding themselves.

But then, we Americans have always been good at that. It was the typical American who "stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni."

Jim Coulos

Geneva