To the Editor:

Re “As Doubts Grow, Top Republicans Vow Health Vote” (front page, July 17):

Senator John McCain is recovering from what must have been very costly surgery involving the best doctors in one of the top American medical facilities, the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix, and he is presumably not facing financial hardship because of it.

Meanwhile, the Republicans in the Senate are waiting for him to come back and vote for a bill that, according to Senator Susan Collins, a true stateswoman, “would affect some of the most vulnerable people in our society, including disabled children, poor seniors.” She added: “It would affect our rural hospitals and our nursing homes. And they would have a very difficult time even staying in existence.”

In other words, the legislation would bring severe financial hardship and untimely death to more Americans.

I pray that the quiet of convalescence will give Senator McCain a chance to reflect that his position in government is meant to serve the common good and a more compassionate agenda than his party’s leaders are proposing.