To the Editor:
I read with interest Rep. Javardi’s comments on the crisis in healthcare*, particularly for rural communities. He is correct on all points except one. The greed of the managers of insurance companies is another huge factor in the cost of medical care in the US. Imagine if C-Suite executives and shareholders didn’t thirst for ever larger pieces of the pie, hoovering up premiums from employers that still provide insurance for employees, those on ACA exchanges and medicare/medicaid, how much more actual care could be delivered to us?
I understand that single-payer systems throughout the developed world are less expensive to administer and deliver world-class care. Hospitals, doctors and clinics are paid. Patients receive care at little or no cost because there is no entity standing between them and their doctors to rake in profits by denying coverage where they can and ceding those profits to the executive class. A national program like this is outside Rep. Javadi’s ability to institute for Oregon, but shouldn’t those with a platform call attention to possible solutions to the crisis? Perhaps his voice will carry farther than yours or mine.
Cheers,
Karen Reddick Yurka
Manzanita
*Article referred to above – https://www.tillamookcountypioneer.net/a-point-of-personal-privilege-the-impossible-math-of-modern-healthcare/