Letter: Private insurance is for profit-taking

The Sept. 20 article regarding climbing health insurance deductibles [Workers feel sting from shift in health coverage] tells us one thing: Medicare for All is the only option left for affordable health insurance. The private sector has failed to provide reasonably priced health insurance. Indeed, there’s really no reason to have private health insurance companies other than profit-taking. They’re middlemen nonessential to health care delivery.

I’m lucky to have decent health insurance. But I believe it’s better for the country to have a Medicare for All system. It would ultimately provide a huge financial lift to small business, families, and individuals.

Medicare for All is NOT socialized medicine. It’s government health insurance that provides access to the private health care delivery system. Most physicians support Medicare for All because of frustrations in dealing with private health insurance companies.

It will result in some additional taxation for the middle class. But it will still be cheaper than excessive deductibles and premiums. Some assert that it will be too expensive. But we’re paying for a more expensive system now, and nearly two-thirds of the money in the health care system is public dollars.

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Grant Smith