THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 18, 1995 TAG: 9507180003
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
A hospital administrator went to heaven and met Saint Peter. Saint Peter told him that there was good news and bad news for him. The good news was that he had come to heaven. The bad news was that his insurance company had certified him for only a three-day stay.
During the era of the Iron Curtain, Chinese people thought that it was a wonderful idea to live in the communes, labor for their leaders under the communists' rules and let someone else take care of them from the cradle to the grave.
The Chinese government indeed has been micromanaging the lives of all Chinese. Chinese citizens must obtain certifications for everything they would do, even for an out-of-town visit with relatives or friends.
Now they are struggling for their freedom at whatever costs, even losing their lives in the Tiananmen Square massacre.
In the United States, a great nation by the people, of the people and for the people, more Americans today are required to obtain certifications before seeking necessary health care. Most Americans continue to contribute their premiums, in the forms of employer contributions and individual payments, to health-insurance companies, which do business and enjoy huge profits.
The American people think that it is a wonderful idea to pay premiums and let someone else take care of their health-care bills. Therefore, like the Chinese people, Americans, too, are paying health-insurance companies to micromanage their lives and losing their freedom of choice and the decision-making power in their health care.
Will it be necessary to have a revolutionary health-care reform in order to reclaim Americans' independence?
ROBERT SU, M.D.
Chesapeake, July 6, 1995
BearSu(AT)aol.com by CNB