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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 19, 1992                   TAG: 9202190361
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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CAN ONLY AFFLUENT AFFORD HEALTH CARE?

ALTHOUGH I am lucky enough to be employed by a fine company with good benefits, my youngest daughter cannot afford health care.

She has a heart condition that has required many emergency-room visits and all kinds of tests and visits to different laboratories. The bills are staggering and seem to be more than a young couple can manage. Worst of all, they are not detailed enough to comprehend.

Are people supposed to pay these without even knowing what they are paying for? When my daughter calls the hospitals, the people there don't seem to know exactly what these costs are either!

With the economy the way it is, socialized medicine has to be imminent. Can only the well-to-do afford good health care? Ultimately the federal government will have to take charge, and maybe then we can catch up with our European neighbors who enjoy health care for all the people, rich or poor. BOB GREGORY ROANOKE

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