Aea,e PeaRtP caUe aRoSe

Re: “Hickenlooper is a proven leader for affordable heatlh care,” Sept. 1 guest commentary

Chris Kennedy’s op-ed piece triggered me in a way that seldom occurs. It makes me wonder how I can harbor such opposite views. I assume both Kennedy and U.S. Senate candidate John Hickenlooper are highly intelligent and sincere in their proposed solutions for the health care system.

Like them, I embrace the idea of universal access health care. It’s in how you get there that I find myself a contrarian.

No matter who gets elected in November, the reality is that you have two choices with the health care system. You can either declare it a public good and regulate it, or you can use market forces and competition to discipline the players. There is no in-between. Health care does not have a gray zone.

I like to think of health care by thinking about the cell phone. When the cell phone first came out it cost $3,000, was as big as a size 12 shoe. You paid for services by the minute. Only wealthy, corporate types could afford it.

Today, every one, even toddlers, have a pocket-sized cell phone with unlimited service. It has become a pseudo-public good by becoming cheap enough for everyone to afford one.

Do you really think that we could have achieved this miracle by having government take over the cell phone industry in the 1990’s? I don’t think so.

Kennedy and Hickenlooper can talk all they want. The plain and simple fact is their infernal tinkering with the health care system contributed to the inflation problem we have today.

Francis M. Miller, Parker