We need a better system

We need a better system

EDITOR:

The American health-care system is not working. American families and businesses are desperate for a resolution. The current private model relies on the sales of a product. This product is health insurance. It is mostly being sold to healthy working Americans and their families. This fails to address Americans with greater health-care needs. Our health-care system is decades behind other sectors of the U.S. economy and foreign health-care systems. In order to keep up, the medical community must adopt the use of computers, electronic health records and productivity producing information-sharing technologies.

There were 46 million uninsured Americans in 2007, before the start of the current economic recession. This number continues to increase as the economy continues to deteriorate. Sixty-two percent of Americans believe that during this current economic crisis, now is the time to reform health care.

Insurance premiums have increased four times more than wages since 1999. However, companies that have adopted consumer-directed plans have actually seen premiums increase slower than wages and inflation.

Medical expenses cause half of all personal bankruptcies.

President Obama hopes that Congress will pass health-care reform in 2009.

Invest in preventative care to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Citizens, not companies, need to fuel reform.

Every American should be given the right to choose the health-care plan and doctor that is right for them. This right to choose should include a public insurance option.

Affordable, high-quality health care needs to be ensured to every American. All Americans, regardless of income, ought to be guaranteed access to high quality health care coverage with reasonable premium limits.

Real heath-care reform must pass in 2009.

Many people have been personally touched or have a loved one who has been touched, by high costs, restrictive plans, and/or insufficient coverage. Many of these effects are negative. Despite its often negative stigma Medicare positively affects many families every year. There is no reason why health care should be available to the rich and the poor, but absent to the middle class.

MEGAN VUTECH

Youngstown

YMCA triathlon a success

EDITOR:

I would like to congratulate the Youngstown YMCA for another successful completion of the Adult and Youth Triathlon. The YMCA is a jewel in a city that is drowning in daily news about murders, joblessness and blight. The programs offered at the “Y” allow families in the Youngstown community to come together for the common goal of improving their mind, spirit and body.

I would also like to commend the many volunteers who came out at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning, as well as the positive cooperation of the Youngstown Police Department. Many officers also participated in the event in our downtown area. In addition to this event, many members have also completed the Tour de Spin, which is a 20-day spinning/cycling event that simulates the 21 stages of the Tour de France.

As a resident of Youngstown, I am glad to be part of one of the strongest YMCA programs in the country. Come and see what the YMCA has to offer you.

MARY JO NAGY, YMCA member

Youngstown