Look south for health care fix

Before passing a health bill that could cripple our country with further debt, I think our legislators should look south.

I just visited Costa Rica where they have a social security system, including health care, which is financially supporting itself. The secret - the only people who receive benefits are those who pay into it through their jobs. Even the immigrant workers from Nicaragua who received a minimum wage were required to contribute in order to receive emergency services from a hospital. Our guide was bewildered, as am I, when we discussed the concept that people in our country who do not contribute to a system still receive services. A system based on something for nothing cannot and should not stand.

When are our leaders going to stop trying to reinvent the wheel and diligently search for a system, like Costa Rica's, that has proved effective and economically sound?

Charles Peraino

Huntley