Letter to the Editor

Goal: Medical care for all

An estimated 17 cents of every dollar spent last year in the United States on health care shows the largest one-year increase since 1960. State health plans are in trouble. Health care spending rose to an estimated $2.5 trillion in 2009. Prescription drugs (which included H1N1 vaccines) added up to $246 billion in 2009. Out-0f-pocket medical spending was estimated at $284 billion. A new study showed that medical costs increased last year at the fastest rate in a half-century.

This fight for medical care for everyone is not about Republicans or Democrats but rather about the quality of life one should have when ill. What is the foundation of your Christianity built upon when you fight against the medical care everyone needs?

People say they want their tax money going for this or that. I don't want my tax money going to medical care and upkeep of prisoners, but I can't do anything about it.

My brother died in my mother's arms when he was 2 years old. My father was laid off from work and didn't think we could afford a doctor's visit for what we thought was a stomachache. We didn't have health insurance. That was 60 years ago.

How much longer will people suffer because of insurance, pharmaceutical and political greed? If you are afraid of medical care for all being socialized, please give up socialized Medicare if you receive it.

I have begun to pray "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done."

LINDA SANDERS, Jackson