Keeping our healthcare healthy

I have one thing to add to Henry Aaron’s Op-Ed article on healthcare rationing (Opinion, Jan. 30). All of us ration our use of goods and services that affect our health and life expectancy. We drive to work rather than take rail-based public transit, thus increasing our risk of dying during our commute. Many of us do not drive more expensive Volvos and Hummers that are safer in an accident. We don’t invest the time and minimal cost of installing and maintaining smoke detectors.

On the flip side, we spend our money on drugs, alcohol, overeating and tobacco, trading expected years of life for the pleasure we enjoy. All of us would drive Hummers, pay someone to install and maintain our smoke detectors and ride rail lines that were within walking distance of our home and work if someone else were willing to pay for it.

There is no specific reason why health insurance has to be structured such that a third party pays for the care consumed based on the treatment decisions of the patient, who is not paying the full price, and the physician, who makes money based on the number and technological sophistication of the services consumed.

HMOs are groups of healthcare providers that have accepted the dual role of healthcare advisor and healthcare payer. HMOs have been shown to provide better care, especially preventive services, and at lower cost than the traditional fee-for-service system, yet the media would have you believe that HMOs kill people. I wonder who is feeding them this line?

JEFF MCCOMBS

Health Economist

USC School of Pharmacy

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Those who need the help have no money to put in healthcare savings accounts. It helps mainly those who don’t need it, which is a typical GOP approach and understanding of the situation.

DAN THOMPSON

Union, Ore.

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I’m 82 years old and remember arguing with my elders that we should go to universal healthcare when I was in my 50s. They told me that England would go broke in five years with the cost of its medical plan. Well, England still hasn’t gone broke, and my friends in England are satisfied with their healthcare, and a friend in Denmark and another in England have both been cured of breast cancer! Both countries spend less on healthcare than we do. Gee, was I crazy?

MARY C. THOMAS

Garden Grove