Readers React: On single-payer healthcare and loving it

To the editor: I am an 89-year-old Korean War veteran who began using Medicare upon reaching age 65. When my drug costs became difficult to cover, I started using my Department of Veterans Affairs medical care eligibility. (“Wary of Medicare for all, Democrats seek easier paths to universal coverage,” May 14)

I have found, contrary to what opponents of single-payer healthcare might say, the service to be of the highest quality. It’s timely, the personnel are very caring, the system is easy to use, and it provides substantial cost savings.

Plus, I have found from my visits to at least three of the facilities here in Southern California that the offices are staffed and utilized by a much more representative population of minorities than I found among my fellow Medicare users.

When I receive my healthcare through the VA, I think to myself that I am very lucky to benefit from such a well-run government plan.

Robert L. Turner, Santa Barbara

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To the editor: Medicare for All or any single-payer plan makes sense, but only if a majority of Americans believe that healthcare is a right.

However, they clearly do not. Most people are satisfied with their own plans through private insurance and they don’t want it messed with.

Any Democratic plan or candidate that does not accept this reality is doomed.

Barbara Jackson, Cerritos

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To the editor: Democrats promoting Medicare for All and calling for the demise of private health insurance are being unnecessarily provocative and demonstrating a fundamental lack of understanding about how our current Medicare system functions.

If they want to get people on board with Medicare for All, they should not characterize it as a one-size-fits-all replacement for private health insurance, but rather as a guaranteed minimum standard of coverage enjoyed by everyone that can be enhanced and expanded with private secondary insurance, as is the case with the current Medicare program.

Private health insurance companies would not become redundant if Medicare for All becomes reality because secondary insurance would provide the choice in the types and amounts of coverage that polling has consistently shown is an important consideration for the majority of Americans.

Gary Gegan, Culver City

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