Readers Write for Sunday, Sept. 27

THE HEALTH CARE DEBATE

Maybe it really is about insurance reform

In all the talk about the assumed exorbitant costs of health care reform proposals currently on the table, I have three questions that I have not heard addressed:

• If a public option is so needed to offer competition to the current insurance industries, why are there no concerns about collusion in the insurance industry? Aren't insurance companies supposed to be competing with each other?

• Why do we not hear about the actual amount of money we all spend to support emergency room visits by the uninsured?

• Why are there no dollar projections representing lost productivity within the economy when people who have no insurance, become ill and can't work?

I support health care reform.

CARTER KUEHN, BRAINERD, MINN.

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Brian Wojtalewicz's Sept. 25 piece on the cons of malpractice awards did not include a couple of items of interest.

One, those in favor of socialized medicine often point to Canada as an example of how such a system can work. Guess what? Canada has caps on medical malpractice. Two, as an attorney, he should have included a last sentence stating that caps on medical malpractice would threaten trial attorneys' incomes.

MIKE TOUHEY, LE SUEUR, MINN.

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David Leonhardt's Sept. 25 article about medical malpractice states: "Imagine if the government paid for more research into which treatments really do make people healthier."

Why the government? Shouldn't private industry like the drug and medical insurance companies have enough interest in the health of Americans to finance the research? The reason: They are focused on quarterly profits, not on Americans' health.

Will America ever address this real health care issue?

ROBERT D. NELSON, PEQUOT LAKES, MINN.

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In his Sept. 20 column, Patrick Geraghty of Blue Cross and Blue Shield states, "We support a health care system in which all have coverage, regardless of preexisting conditions." Wrong.

When my husband and I moved here four years ago, we had medical insurance coverage through our construction business. When the business closed, our insurance ended after a month. Since Bill didn't get a job until October and our coverage ended in September, I attempted to get private single-family insurance. Although I knew it would be expensive, we were prepared to pay out of pocket rather than to be uninsured. Since our coverage in New York state was through an HMO run by Rochester Blue Cross/Blue Shield, I went to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.

We were denied. Why? Nearly 20 years before I had undergone a mastectomy because of cancer. I was told this was a preexisting condition, and although this was 2005 and my surgery was in 1989 and I had no recurrence in all that time, we were not able to be insured.

I cannot wait for President Obama's health care reforms to be enacted.

LORRAINE TYRA, STILLWATER

UNLEASHED MONOPOLIES?

A good argument for educational vouchers

Your Sept. 23 editorial notes with approval the Brandl-Weber report that favors targeting government assistance at individuals, not at state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

That report also recommends breaking up government monopolies where possible to unleash competition's power to make services better, cheaper and more innovative. The K-12 educational voucher (advocated by Brandl) does just that. For the first time the state would be funding the education of K-12 students, rather than the SOEs and their employees. (These particular SOEs absorb almost 50 percent of the entire state budget.) The benefits to the students and to the state would be huge.

DANIEL A. UTTER, EDINA

last week at the U.N.

Presidents and prime ministers showed stuff

Between the speeches of Moammar Gadhafi and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the United Nations, I wonder where Joe ("You lie") Wilson and Kanye West were when they were actually needed.

WILLIAM CORY LABOVITCH,

SOUTH ST. PAUL

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After listening to speeches by President Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu last week, I am embarrassed to have a president who talks so much and comprehends so little.

TIM LAW, MINNETONKA

The search for Tim

Perhaps an old radio show could help

The eloquent plea from former Gov. Arne Carlson notwithstanding, there's only one person who can shag down our missing governor, Tim Pawlenty, and drag his sorry butt back to the statehouse to do what he was (barely) elected to do: govern the state.

That person, is, of course, Guy Noir. Acting through his agent, a G. Keillor, I have hired this Guy to find our AWOL presidential aspirant somewhere on the presidential campaign trail and, like a bounty hunter, schlep him home.

I have every confidence that Guy will get up and do what needs to be done, but if he cannot, I am delving deep into the past for Plan B: "Mr. Keen: Tracer of Lost Persons."

WILLARD B. SHAPIRA, ROSEVILLE