Elephant in the room

You want common sense? The elephant in the room isn’t Medicaid, or Medicare, or even Obamacare.

It’s the insane prices charged by Big Pharma, the medical-devices industries and the insurance companies. I believe the best way to tighten the reins on these entities is by way of a single-payer health-care system.

These groups are unchecked by regulations or even free markets. They have had carte blanche essentially to get away with murder with their pricing schemes. It’s time to take the plunge and join the rest of the civilized world. A single-payer system will reduce these costs substantially. What’s more, I’ll bet the Dems will come along, the Republicans can take the credit for having the guts to finally propose what is right and honest, and we’ll get it done.

It’s time!

Oh, and if you’re worried about the profits taken out of the pharmaceutical industry, well, they can start saving a bundle by cutting back on their huge advertising budgets. It’s time that doctors went back to prescribing medications rather then people selfprescribing what they saw advertised on television a hundred times over the past month.

Finally, if this requires the raising of taxes across the board, so be it. I believe health care is a right, not a privilege. If there is one thing that justifies higher taxes, it is this one issue. All the other issues are up for debate.

Hey, if my insurance costs get cut in half—and they can and will with a properly managed single-payer system—then I’d gladly pay back a third of that savings in higher taxes. DANE BUXBAUM

Little Rock