The Tribune picked the wrong week to argue for repairing rather than replacing our health care system-wrong because of the outstanding Public Television series on the Great Depression.
Though I lived through that period myself, I was shocked at the bullheadedness of President Hoover in his insistence that everything was going to be just fine, that nothing significant needed to be changed.
His good works both before and after his presidency have softened his image in our eyes; but he was the wrong man to be president at that time in our history. And the Tribune is equally obtuse and irrelevant regarding health care in America today.
The Great Depression was real and the current health care crisis is real. Yes, I have insurance plus Medicare; but others in my field have just received notice that their family health insurance for 1994 will cost about $6,000.
No wonder no one wants to hire any full-time employees these days. No wonder so many are being laid off. We have a gold-plated health care system which even the middle-class cannot afford, to say nothing of low-income families. It’s terrible to be one untimely illness away from bankruptcy.
Like President Hoover, the Tribune has some refinements of the existing system to offer, but also like our 31st president, these suggested repairs fall short.
They do not ensure universal coverage; they do not reduce costly duplication of facilities; they do not put a cap on drug prices; and, finally, they do not come close to giving America a health care system comparable to that which other major nations are offering their people.
