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Slider speaks of healthcare reform

By Staff | Aug 19, 2009

Dear Editor:

The need for reform of our health care systemis urgent and undeniable. Over the past decade, premiums have doubled; out-of-pocket costs have increased by a third; and deductibles have continued to rise. As America’s families have been battered by spiraling health care costs, health insurance companies and their executives have reaped windfall profits from a broken system.

There are some people in Washington DC who are trying to protect the status quo by fighting reform, siding with powerful special interests and playing politics with the physical and financial health of American families. One Republican senator said, “If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.” A leading GOP political strategist urged his fellow Republicans to “resist the temptation” to be “constructive or, at least responsible” and instead work to kill health care reform. What these defenders of the status quo fail to understand is that health care reform isn’t about President Obama or Washington politics. It’s about a health care system that is breaking America’s families, breaking America’s businesses, and breaking America’s economy.The American Nurses Association and the American Medical Association, who represent the millions of nurses and doctors who know our health care system best, have announced their support for reform.

If we fail to act now to contain escalating costs, everyone’s insurance will be in jeopardy. Premiums will continue to rise, benefits will erode, and the number of uninsured Americans will grow. More business will beforced to drop coverage, lay off employees, or even shut down.

Sincerely,

Mr. Francis D. Slider

Middlebourne