A Letter to My Senators

25 July 2008

The Honorable Arlen Specter

711 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510

The Honorable Robert Casey

393 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senators Specter & Casey:

The purpose of this correspondence is to address my concerns over HR 3200 and the administrations push towards government run or socialized health care in the United States. I am adamantly opposed to any form of a “Public Option” or government involvement in the health care system in the United States. I am not alone as an increasing majority of Americans share the same views.

While HR 3200 is a bill in the House of Representatives, some form or fashion of this bill will inexorably work its way to the United States Senate. On behalf of my wife and myself, registered and active voters in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I urge both of you to vote NO to any form of government run, government sponsored or government backed health care bill that may come before you for a vote.

While I acknowledge that our health care system in the United States, which is privately run and administered, has its flaws and short comings, our health care system continues to remain the best in the world. It is one very important point and the reason people from all over the world come here for quality care, including from countries that have government run or socialized healthcare. The fact is, they simply cannot get the care they need when they need it, and they can get the care they need here. Western, industrialized countries that have instituted this "socialized medicine”, have created a larger problems than they repaired. The United Kingdom and Canada are two of the best examples. We should learn by their mistakes and not pass a bill because of pressure exerted by the president.

Additionally, the sheer cost and the enormity of the bureaucracies that will be created to “administer” a government run health care system will place an undue burden on the hard working, tax paying citizens of this country. This will be in addition to the trillions of dollars that Congress and this administration has pushed through, often without any member of Congress reading the contents of the bills they voted for. In this time of economic difficulty, additional taxes imposed upon decent, hard working and taxpaying Americans simply makes no economic sense. Taxing the “wealthy” has been discussed. Many of those “wealthy” are small business persons. Small business is the backbone of our economy. Taxing them will in many cases wipe out any profits they may have made, thus forcing them and their employees out of business which would only increase our current overwhelming unemployment rate.

Creating a “Public Option” (government run) healthcare system will eventually result in a single payer system as employers find they can save money by opting out of private health care, forcing their employees into the government program. Millions of Americans will then be forced to deal with the inevitable rationing of healthcare as a result of flooding the program with new patients as the same number of doctors and hospitals attempt in vain to cope with the influx of new patients. The bill as written now, on page 16, states that:

Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first

day of Y1.

If I understand this correctly, if one does not have private insurance at the time a government run health care bill is passed and takes effect, he or she is automatically enrolled into the government program with no option to secure private health insurance.

My final, and one of the most profound, and the American public concerns is that the President and a significant number of Senators and Representatives think and believe that the government can run an insurance program of the scale to cover all Americans as well as 12 to 15 million illegal immigrants efficiently and cost effectively. In my 57 years on this earth, I have yet to see the federal government run any program in an efficient or cost effective manner. Experience and common sense tells me that health care will be neither efficient nor cost effective if the U. S. Government is responsible for its administration.

Once again, I urge you both to vote a resounding NO representing the overwhelming majority of your constituents’ as intended and mandated by our Constitution to any form of government run, administered, sponsored or backed health care bill.

Sincerely,

Keith J. Ressler