Edward Segal

So House Speaker Paul Ryan, with his American Health Care Act, looks just like a kid with a new bike.



I wonder how the coal miners in Kentucky and West Virginia will look when they realize they are losing their rural health clinics and rural hospitals. Who will take care of their black lung disease?

How about the 1,100 Chevrolet workers who just lost their jobs, not because the jobs went to Mexico but because the Chevy Cruze is not selling well — how will they like it when their health premiums go up $6,000 this year and more in the future?

According to the Congressional Budget Office (their exact figures are not available yet) 11 million or 12 million Americans are about to lose their health insurance. They will have no choice but to utilize the emergency rooms of the nearest hospital. Those people who have employer-covered health insurance or Medicare, who think they are safe from raises, better think about who is going to pay for that utilization.

This plan is opposed by the American Federation of Hospitals, AARP, the American Medical Association, America’s Essential Hospitals and Families USA. With all due respect to Paul Ryan, these are people who might possibly know more than he does about medical care and cost.

Paul Ryan comes from Janesville, Wisconsin — not that far from Canada. If he would look north, he would find that Canadians love their health plan. Their life expectancy is two years more than ours, and they spend more time in hospitals. It is true that you may hear more complaints from Canadians, but that is because their health system is a public one compared to our private one.

People make the argument that medical research would be curtailed under the Canadian system. That is false. Most research in this country is financed by the National Institutes of Health, and that wouldn’t change.

People say you have to wait for medical care in Canada. You have to wait here also!

In our country, health insurance companies take 31 percent of every dollar collected for overhead, underwriting, billing, sales and marketing, as well as exorbitant executive pay. By contrast, Medicare only takes 3 percent. If we switched to a “Medicare for All” plan, drug costs would plummet because the system has more clout and buying power. Drug companies naturally oppose this.

We treat health care like a commodity. It is not! It is a social service. Besides, wouldn’t it be nice if our infant mortality rate improved and we did better than Cuba?

Edward Segal is an Endicott resident.