Daniel Schaffer’s Jan. 18 commentary, “The best option for health care,” made several excellent points.

The first noted how joining health care and private health insurance companies at the hip has produced spendy and often unsatisfactory coverage, the cost of which increases annually and nontransparently at a dizzying, unregulated and unsustainable rate.

The second pointed out that a single-payer system would lower excessive costs to the insured by eliminating considerable administrative expenses, profit-making and the need to pay shareholders, and thus merits our consideration.

The third (the piece de resistance, in my opinion) suggested that the single-payer system of choice would expand Medicare to cover everyone cradle to grave. This would lower and standardize care costs in large part, eliminate the current fatuous bill “negotiations” between health care providers and health insurance companies, level the playing field for both health care providers and their patients, and ameliorate the bankruptcy-by-health-care-debt issue facing many Americans.

The fourth reminded us that our current system of paying for health care is broken, and the chances for improvement by sticking with the status quo are low indeed.

David Fietz

Springdale, Wash.