Health care letters 8/26

Preventive health care starts with us

Charles Krauthammer is very thorough and persuasive in his dismantling of the value of preventive health care (“Prevention saves lives, but not money,” Opinion, Aug. 14). However, he is missing the point.

Preventive health care is about choosing the apple instead of the chips at 3 p.m. It is about taking a walk at 8 p.m., instead of watching another rerun. It is about getting up earlier so that you have time to make a healthy breakfast. It means reading labels. It means thinking before you buy your food.

Preventive health care is about making healthier choices. By the time you are taking those tests for problems, which cost so much money, there is already lots of water — actually, salt, fat and sugar — under the bridge. It is not easy to make healthy choices. It takes self-discipline and personal responsibility. Isn’t self-discipline nothing more than self-care? Do we not care for ourselves? If we cared for ourselves, prevention would already be taking place, and this real “prevention” is guaranteed to save lives and money. Judy O’Reilly, Stockbridge

Insurance firms ensure their own health

Marketing health insurance is indeed lucrative — especially for companies that turn down applicants who have pre-existing medical conditions, that deny essential medical treatment to valid policyholders and that drop coverage for people who become seriously ill. These policies are undertaken not to improve the health of citizens, but to enhance the corporate “bottom line.”

Millions in the U.S. have no coverage at all. Congress must put partisanship aside, and pass effective health care reform this session without unnecessary delay.

Bob Fletcher, Marietta

Lasik proves competition leads to value

“What’s on the line” (News, Aug. 16) was quite well done. However, the writer tries to justify the fact that rationing would result, by citing that insurance companies already ration medical care. The writer says that most insurance plans do not cover surgical vision correction — thus, they are rationing that procedure. That is true, but what is also true is that because that procedure is not covered, the patient shops for the provider, seeking the best provider and price.

As a result, Lasik eye surgery has become a very competitive industry, driving the cost of the procedure down drastically. Where else in the medical system has anything come down in price? Only when you spend your own money for your own benefit, do you get both quality and value. When someone else pays the bill — like an insurance company, the government or your employer, there is absolutely no concern for value.

Earl Hider, Snellville

Everyone in U.S. needs to be covered

Is everybody happy with the current health care they are getting? Do we seem like a healthy country?

Then why are so many people scared to take a chance on Obama’s ideas for reforming the system? It’s like everyone is thinking only of themselves. The goal here is to get as many people covered as we can. In that way, we can all breathe easier, and lead healthier lives. We are one country. Let’s act like it. Tom Ashley, Atlanta