Letters | No socialized medicine

LINDA HUNT Beckman's op-ed

"Magic Moment for Health Care?"

is an interesting piece of writing.

She declares Michael Moore's "Sicko" to be "heartbreaking, funny" and very accurate in its assessment of this country's health-care problem, despite the fact that she also admits that she hadn't yet seen the film.

Unfortunately, a reality check is needed. There is no free health care - we the taxpayers are the ones who foot the bill.

If the "free health care" that other countries rave about is so marvelous, then why do they wait for months just to get a routine doctor's appointment? Why do they come here for treatment from other countries?

The bottom line is this:

In a free country, as compared to a socialist one, you have a free marketplace where you can purchase things like health care - that is called capitalism.

And it's part of something called democracy. If that doesn't appeal to you, and you want handouts and government-supplied freebies," move to Venezuela and be ruled by a dictator like Hugo Chavez - he loves giving "freebies" to his citizens.

How does Miss Beckman come to the conclusion that everyone is entitled to free health care?

If that's true, shouldn't people be entitled to free food, housing and clothing? After all, these are basic human needs, too.

The answer is not a state-run system, as Miss Beckman suggests, since it's been proven that the managed care that followed Hillary Clinton's failed health-care reform has been a disaster.

Less government involvement and more independent health-insurance companies that can compete in a free and open market is the answer, with less goverment interference, of course.

That's what this coutry is founded on.

Stuart Caesar, Philadelphia