To the Editor:
In reading the recent column by Christopher Curran, I was struck by the embedded fear he expressed regarding laws passed by the Obama administration. He believes President Obama fostered dependency and socialism.
For example, when our economy was hemorrhaging 700,000 jobs a month, Mr. Curran felt the extension of unemployment compensation to 52 weeks developed a mindset of dependency. Is he serious? The country was in a freefall, people were losing their homes and, as we all know, money is needed to eat and survive.
In addition, the Affordable Care Act, in his view, was just a drive towards socialism. What is this fear? All the western nations in our world offer some form of socialized medicine for all their citizens – except our country. And why do these nations offer a single payer system? Because it is the most economic method for controlling patient care costs as well as promoting their belief that health care is a human right.
Think of it this way…when we buy a car and are mandated to buy insurance, we choose an insurance carrier and pay monthly, quarterly or yearly a fixed premium for the policy we selected. Everyone else does the same. When an accident occurs we then have the coverage to repair the vehicle and pay the medical costs incurred. This is what is called “economy of scale,” where paid money to the insurance carrier will cover minor to catastrophic losses for all. No one can predict whether an accident is in one’s future, and this same process is foundational to socialized medicine. This is a social program of care.
For a society to remain productive, creative and industrious it is essential for all citizens to have health care. It is considered a human right and a mark of treasuring the value of humanity. To do otherwise is to incentivize an “every man for them self” at our peril.

Karen Gustafson

Warwick