Let China help pay for health care

To the editor:With so many without health insurance and the 2008 elections well on the way, I am surprised that Hillary Clinton is not promoting a basic universal health-care system again. The big question many have used to speak out against such a plan has been the cost of such a program. Simply put, the cost of the Iraq war would have paid for such a plan for years.

If funding is the prime reason for not having one, the answer is quite simple. Why doesn't our government implement a 10 percent duty on all imports from China? With the amount of money and jobs flowing out of our economy to that nation, why not use that drain as a source to provide for all Americans equally? Private insurance could still provide extra coverage. Perhaps by doing such, the long term benefit would be a return of some of the jobs lost.

GLENN PROCTOR, Jackson