"Heretic, Rebel, a Thing to Flout" - SABOTAGED V.A. IS NO ARGUMENT AGAINST UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

The Saturday Northwest Herald had one of those letters to the editor that cried out for a response.  Here is the letter, followed by my reply which will hopefully appear in the paper in the near future.

To the Editor:

So you want universal health care, do you?

I would refer you to the March 29 newsmaker item No. 2. In it Sen. Dick Durbin is “frustrated” by the fact that the Veterans Administration hospital in Marion had “no permanent leadership or surgical unit.” The story went on to say, “The hospital’s three operating rooms were shut down last August, after the VA found that at least nine deaths between October 2006 and March of last year were directly attributable to substandard care at the southern Illinois site.”

This is what you get when the government runs private industry.

Remember the mess that was uncovered at Walter Reed Army Hospital last year? Unsanitary conditions, plaster falling from the walls, rodents and bugs. It was, and is, a national disgrace. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both promise this type of health care to all Americans. I can hardly wait.

Scott R. Siman

McHenry 

To the Editor:

In a recent letter Scott Siman held up failures at Veterans Administration Hospitals as an argument against universal health care.  This is a lot like the fox blaming the chickens for mess of feathers and blood in the hen house.

My late father and generations of veterans were once served by VA Hospitals admired the world over for their quality of care.  Under the Bush administration the VA has been handed over to 1) ideologues out to dismantle government and 2) incompetent cronies who can be relied on to do such a bad job so that willing shills like Siman can claim that government “can’t do the job.”

Of course the same administration doesn’t want to “waste money” on veterans who are no longer useful to them.  It has fought tooth and nail against every attempt to upgrade service in the VA medical system.

Siman also compares apples to oranges.  No universal health care plan envisions relying on a system of federally owned and operated hospitals.  Instead some form of universal insurance will reimburse current health care providers.  But those providers and their patients will see millions of dollars in savings from not having to fight insurance companies.

Patrick Murfin,

Crystal Lake