Can't afford to go back to square one

After decades of suffering through a health care system that's the most expensive (per person) in the whole world, we are now at a crossroad in history. One road says to do nothing and just keep doing what we've been doing, the other is to plot a new course of doing this health care business.

I think most sane Americans would agree that we take latter option, and when better to do it than now when we have all branches of government under the Democratic Party, which stands for improving the common good of the nation. If we don't do this now, then it would never be done because corporate influence in government will only get worse in the future and corporate interest is in keeping the status quo: maintaining their profitability, forgetting about the common good.

The grip of corporations on the Republican Party has already been pretty evident over the years, but the hold these corporations have on so-called Blue Dog Democrats in the House and the Senate, has been laid bare in the current health care debate. They are still in the minority but combined with the Republicans, they have been very effective in slowing and watering down both bills from both houses of Congress.

And this will only get worse in the future so the Obama Administration and both leaderships in the Senate and the House must hammer out and pass a health care reform bill into law, Now. We cannot hesitate and go back to square one on this. Not when the cost of health care in 2009 was $8,047 per person and is projected to double by 2019. We owe it to ourselves and the succeeding genenerations to fix (or start to) this problem now instead of kicking it down.

Roy Pagay

Aurora