Give us insurance options

We are lucky Americans. My husband and I have health insurance. We are privileged to pay $14,000 per year in premiums and deductibles for our coverage. Luckily, our favorite doctor is on the list of providers. I needed an MRI in August. We had already paid $8,000 to our insurance company and met our $2,000 deductible. Luckily, they paid for my MRI, and it only took one extra week for them to release my money.

However, in January our luck may change. My former employer determines our insurance carrier. I have no choice in this decision. It may choose a new company or a new plan that will charge higher premiums and higher deductibles, force me to choose a new doctor and restrict the procedures and medications that will be covered. My only choice will be to say, "Yes, I accept your verdict about my health," or, "No, I will gamble that paying my own expenses won't make me homeless."

Bureaucrats already make decisions about our health care. Our choice of doctors is already limited. Care is already rationed. And we pay dearly for our lack of choice and our limited coverage. Give me a government-run option, please. The key word is "option." At this point, we have none.

If the government-run plan is as bad as the commercials would have us believe, private insurance companies should have no trouble competing.

CHERYL HANSCHEN, Jackson