A list of fixes for health care

The House of Representative's version of the health care bill barely passed on Nov. 7. Good or bad?

Many questions remain to be addressed. It's estimated that reform will take three or four years to implement and will cost billions. One thing is certain - it will cost more than the government is predicting it will.

What can be done now? In order of priority:

Immediate regulation that mandates no one can be denied due to pre-existing conditions; open up competition; enable insurance companies to operate across state lines; add tort reform; limit frivolous law suits to remove the "trial lawyer tax" on the system; separate risk pools - government subsidies for high risk pools would prevent everyone's premiums from going sky high; expand the use of nonprofit clinics subsidized by the government to curb unnecessary emergency room visits; then, fine tune the bill using Medicare, the VA and the federal employees program as a base.

When a bill does finally pass, we should mandate that members of Congress leave their golden plan and join the rest of the population. If the plan they will pass is so good, then it should be good enough for them.

John Mayerhofer, Sr.

Huntley