All citizens need health coverage

Hyperbole is a poor substitute for truth in political arguments: Killing off grandma. Death squads. Socialism.

My impression is that the theory (not the practice) of insurance is based on sharing the risk across some restricted group. Sounds remarkably like socialism. However, any benefit paid under such insurance reduces profit by the corporation. Unrestricted capitalism permits such insurance to become a con game. Unreasonable profit can be used to fatten slush funds to buy political influence or overpay executives. If insurance is restricted to a group of employees and retirees, then loss of a job has a double penalty: loss of income and loss of health insurance. This is not a pretty picture. In order to defend the status quo, one has to talk fast or send fakes to pose as representatives of the common man.

As a Medicare-covered retiree, I resent those disparaging my coverage and also refusing to improve it. My insurance costs have always exceeded payments made for my medical bills. I have been a good deal for those providing my insurance. That may not always be true for a particular year, but it is true over a span of 40-plus years. I have always been glad to have been a source of support for others less fortunate. I would be much happier if I felt none of my health insurance were going to support unreasonable corporate salaries/bonuses or political slush funds. I, like Senator Kennedy, hope to see all of our citizens covered for needed health care in my lifetime.

GEORGE COUNTS, Scott City