America's the best, if you're healthy

The controversy over health care reform boggles my mind. I'm astounded how those of us who aren't adequately covered, who can't get covered, or who watch our premiums continue to rise aren't flooding the phone lines of our representatives demanding immediate action. Instead, we are at a standstill battling over details and semantics, frozen by the fear that government will take health care down in flames. What scares me is not government regulation, but that health care is a for-profit industry, that insurance companies get huge incentives for denying the treatment we need. And yet without insurance, you are one heart attack away from $55,000 in medical bills. A dear friend and colleague who was diagnosed with leukemic lymphoma in 2005 dragged himself to work day after day while we watched him waste away. He died on Christmas Eve. Could his last months have been more comfortable without the worry over bills? Would he have lived longer if could have focused on his health instead of his health insurance? And we call ourselves the most powerful country in the world? A free country? Sure, as long as you don't get sick. Now is not the time for silence. Let your U.S. reps and senators know that everyone deserves health care, and we need it now.

Barbara de Nekker

Waukegan