SINGLE PAYER HEALTHCARE IS NEEDED IN THE U.S.

It appears that our elected officials are refusing to seriously (or in any way)consider single payer healthcare as an option for the reform of the current corporate enrichment system.

L.E. is sure that many of you (in Southern Nevada) have by now seen the ads which the pharmaceutical research and industry corporations are running for Harry Reid. The ads exhort us to call Harry and thank him for the great work he has, and is doing for us particularly with regard to his efforts to provide health care for all.

L.E. conjectures that for these folk to spend such vast sums of money on Harry (running these ads extensively)-there is likely an expected quid pro quo. It is likely that Harry's championed health care reform will not be single payer but a system controlled by those who are running the ads on his behalf.

L.E. believes that it is time that we wrest control of our health care from the corporate giants and instruct our elected officials (such as Senator Reid) that we desire a single payer system which provides care at reasonable cost to all.

L.E. lived in Australia for a time. During his residence Australia changed from a private healthcare system (Blue Cross, etc.) to a single payer system. The standard of care did not, in L.E.'s opinion, diminish in any way and all are covered.

The scare tactics spread by the current health care profiteers should not be accepted without your proper investigation. Canada, Europe and many (actually probably most) countries have and enjoy single payer health care at `reasonable cost.

An example of how our system has become even more ridiculous:

A couple of months back Mrs. L.E. Fant took ill while on a business trip to a South Carolina. She fought the symtoms for a couple of days in order to come home. On picking her up at the airporp on a Friday evening we decided that it was time for a vist to an E.R. That visit, which lasted a couple of hours and involved maybe 10 minutes with a doctor and a few tests was billed at very close to $10,000. However, that diagnosis provided and treatment failed to relieve her symptoms and further visits (to a different provider with more costs) were necessary before a dignosis/treatment which relieved her symptoms were found. This from the so-called best healthcare system in the world?

L.E. believes it is highly likely that you know folks who do not have health insurance, maybe even a family member. Many of these folk live in terror of becoming ill. When they become so sick that they determine a doctor's treatment is imperative, they often go the our high cost E.R's. Most often the cost of their treatment cannot be managed by them (or many if the above example is typical) and is, therefore, spreaqd out to be paid by others.

We need single payer healthcare so our citizens can relieve themselves of the stress of knowing they cannot afford preventative medicine, the citizens of the greatest county in the world deserve single payer-all in none out-healthcare.

L.E. urges you all to call Harry Reid and say "Harry, we are your constituents, not the healthcare moguls, and we demand single payer healthcare which cover every American. When you champion that cause we will thank you."

Talk this over with your friends and family, make investigation of how single payer works in most other countries, investigate why we have the highest cost for prescription drugs in the world. If you know a person who has no healthcare insurance-put youself in their shoes for a moment or two. Then wonder why this situation can exist in the richest country in the world. One reason is that we allow it to. You will have others.