U.S. figures shaky

In response to “Cost mirrors quality” (Letters, June 12):

Our health care is the world’s most costly not because we have the best doctors and technology but because we have the most bureaucratic system driven by corporate greed. More than 31 percent of each dollar spent on health care in the U.S. goes to paperwork, overhead, CEO salaries, profits, etc. Canada has a 1 percent overhead.

We spend 17 percent of our GDP on health care, covering 85 percent of the populace. France spends 9.5 percent; Switzerland, 10.9 percent; Germany, 10.7 percent; Canada, 9.7 percent, for 100 percent coverage. The uninsured and underinsured still get sick, waiting until advanced illness to see a doctor and then going to emergency rooms. Such care costs about $45 billion a year, increasing premiums, co-pays and deductibles for the insured.

In a socialized system the government runs hospitals, and doctors work for the government. Single-payer health care is not socialized medicine, any more than the public funding of education is socialized education.

The only Western nation without a national plan, we are diminished until the health and financial well-being of every citizen (over 60 percent of bankruptcies are attributable to medical costs) are protected.

Cheri Casper

Spokane