I used to get some letters published in the Metro Pulse, but with their new owners, I suspect I'll be blackballed there just as I have been at the News Slantinel.

So, here's the original letter in the current Metro Pulse--to be found under the mysterious title "Gu-wrong": (link...)

And here's my reply, which will meet its fate as my first blog entry:

Mac McAdams wrote an interesting letter about the movie “Sicko” and health insurance in the current (8/2/07) issue of the Metro Pulse. And while I disagree with Mr. McAdams on two of his points, I strongly concur on two others.

Health care is in fact free in Canada, Britain, France, and all other democratic countries—just like public libraries, fire and police departments, and most highways in the US. When you need a cop, a firemen, a library book, or a doctor you should never be asked for money. All of these public services are of course funded by taxes, but it might interest Mr. McAdams to know that the taxes used to fund universal health care in these countries add up to far less than the private insurance premiums, co-pays, and deductibles that most Americans pay—if they’re lucky enough even to have health insurance, as about 45 million Americans do not.

The answer to why wealthy celebrities and world leaders come to the US for medical treatment is simple: We have very good specialized doctors and hospitals, if you can afford them. Unlike a growing number of Americans, these rich foreigners can easily afford high-level American care. (Still, keep in mind the experience of Canadian comedian Dana Carvey, who had a heart operation in San Francisco during which the surgeon replaced the wrong artery.)

Mr. McAdams is correct, though, in observing that the US does not have to worry about “running an almost three billion dollar debt this year like France”; instead, we can look forward to paying over a trillion dollars, that’s trillion with a “t,” to pay for George W. Bush’s insane war in Iraq. The government of France wisely refused to get involved with that disaster, leaving them with funds to provide health care for their citizens instead of the death and destruction that our tax dollars are reaping.

I would also agree with Mr. McAdams that we do not “want the government that is running months behind issuing passports to provide our healthcare, . . . the government that took a week to get water to the Superdome.” In order to provide quality, universal health care and other necessary programs, we Americans will have to start electing competent governments, ones who don’t put “Heckuva Job Brownies” in charge of essential services. You know, like the French have figured out how to do.