A Lot to Consider

(So I'd forgotten I'd written this letter to ED and sent it to the PASADENA WEEKLY, but well, this past week it was finally published)

I want single-payer national health care.

When health care “reform” left Washington DC for the summer recess, industry players spent more than $1 million a DAY on advertising to convince us that only they can deliver the health care we need and deserve.

As unemployment climbs, people lose their employer-sponsored health insurance. And if what they said was true, we the people would not have health care that would allow us to be underinsured, without insurance or bankrupt.

In addition to the advertising campaign that our premium dollars buy, we also foot the bill for multimillion-dollar paydays for health care insurance company employees, according to Bill Moyers on his show, “Bill Moyers’ Journal.”

Recently, Moyers said H. Edward Hanway, chairman and CEO of Cigna, the country’s fourth-largest insurance company, has announced his retirement at the end of the year. By then, he will have made $11.4 million.

Mr. Hanway is not alone in reaping benefits sown by our health insurance premium dollars. Mr. Moyers reports, “Ron Williams, the CEO of Aetna Insurance … made more than $17 million last year, [and] John Hammergren, the head of McKesson, the biggest health care company in the world, was [compensated] nearly
$30 million.”

How many of our health care dollars do we lose to support these men as multimillionaires?

Since our health-care dollars are siphoned off for advertising and salaries for executives, we need to consider a few questions.

How many pregnant women could get prenatal care for this money? How many prenatal classes for parents could we have so that maybe the words “we support families” coming from politicians would ring true?

How many kids could have regular physical, dental, visual and emotional check-ups so our medical teams could monitor for abuse, cavities and myopia?

How many people might find the cancer that’s growing within them early enough to have reasonable and effective treatment if our premium dollars didn’t finance executives and TV commercials?

We have a lot to think about.

~STEVI CARROLL, PASADENA
Source: http://pasadenaweekly.com/cms/story/detail/letters/7812/
Pasadena Weekly
10/14/2009