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Spending more, but getting less

EDITOR:

Recently I attended a town hall meeting with a lower Michigan Republican congressman. He made the statement that every member of Congress gets a campaign contribution from Blue Cross. Other health insurance companies, I suspect, have also bought and paid for our Congress.

Of the 35 countries in the world with the largest economies, 34 have some form of government sponsored health care.

The U.S. spends far more on health care than any nation on Earth, but we rate 27 on outcomes. Our system is broken.

When profit is the thrust of those who control delivery of health care, costs go up and results decline.

The Affordable Care Act tried to improve our health care outcomes, working within a broken system. Our hospitals have benefitted from this act. Now they get paid for providing essential care to the working poor.

There are those with good insurance who don’t want Obamacare. Of course, they don’t want to pay taxes to support expanded Medicaid.

It is time Congress represent the interest of the American people, not the profits of health care insurance companies.

Paul Hayes, MD

Norway

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