Health care reform, but not this way

The sheer verbosity of America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 - 211,360 words found on 1,017 pages - is troubling to me. Further, we all know that once any legislation is passed, over the ensuing years we can expect to see regulations promulgated by the various federal agencies that have responsibility for such which will end up dwarfing the size of the original legislation. The question at the end of the day is, what good will actually be achieved for the American people?

On Sept. 5, I was engaged in a backyard conversation with my next door neighbor. Joe pulls out a "pocket" Declaration of Independence and Constitution and points out a rather blatantly obvious fact. Somehow the founders and framers figured out a way to write the foundational documents for our great republic in a combined space of 9,600 words.

For the sake of the country let's all hope that the administration and Congress actually look for ways in a truly bipartisan fashion to change what is broken but preserve what works with our nation's health care delivery and financing systems. Also, it is high time that the administration and congressional leaders accept the fact that just because I and tens of millions of other citizens oppose HR 3200 or the HELP Committee bill does not mean that we are opposed to health care reform.

John P. Garven

Huntley