Fuller disclosure

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Critical difference

Please remember these words: There is a difference between health care and health insurance. If the proposed health care bill passes, you will experience the difference in about three years.

What good is insurance if you are denied the use of it either by delay or death? Being covered by health insurance means nothing if you do not "qualify" because of age and/or treatment costs.

I am 77 years old and in good health; now, that is.

Short rations

If the health care reform bill passes, senior citizens beware. When health care rationing comes, who do you think will lose health care first? I hope you said "seniors" because then you would be correct.

If you listen to AARP and the president, you will expect no changes. But if you read the bill, you will find that rationing is a foregone conclusion. Adding millions of people to the rolls without adding medical professionals will force rationing. I am not trying to scare seniors -- I am one. But I do want them to be aware of what this new system could and will do to their health care.

Check with your representative and each of your senators and ask them about rationing. Remember, they will not be covered by this bill. They will continue with their great health care that we are paying for.

Reckless in Raleigh

With the health care crusader stumping nearby in Raleigh, something critical must be said about his reckless approach. We don't need quick change in health care. In government, slow change is good change.

More important, all Americans don't need the government to provide health care. Many people work not only for their basic income, but also for their health care. When you take away this second incentive for people to work, you will end up with more nonworking people. Just spend a little time driving around Fayetteville to see what type of society nonworkers produce.

Most important, who pays for this? We do. That is, the government of the people, by the people and for the people pays for this. I do not want to pay for the health care of other people, especially when they don't take care of their own health!

Commentary: Health care is already rationed in U.S.

In the health care debate, there's a lot of misinformed talk about how government will "ration" health care. To hold down costs, the argument goes, the government will deny you drugs or medical procedures you need — maybe even let you die.

Well, unless you're Warren Buffet, Bill Gates or someone else with a bottomless checkbook, your health care is already rationed.

If your health care is a benefit of your job, your company has already had to decide what level of coverage it can afford to provide.

Ban the ads

How can we save 3 percent to 4 percent of health care costs? Easy. Ban hospitals and insurance companies from marketing their services.

When you get into an accident or when you have a heart attack, do you consult your TV to see who will be giving you health care? How ridiculous is it that heath care systems or insurance companies should advertise?

It must be that they spend 3 percent to 4 percent of their budgets to make us choose when a sick person has no choice. That is typical of how they have made us think about health care as a commodity, which it's not. It is perverse that they should try to convince us that we have a choice about who will really give us care when we need it.