Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston
Globe
January 9, 2000, Sunday ,THIRD EDITION
SECTION: LETTERS; Pg. E6
LENGTH: 260 words
HEADLINE:
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR;
TORT REFORM NEEDED, NOT NATIONAL
HEALTH INSURANCE
BODY:
A Jan. 2 letter debated the
ideas of "small steps" as advocated by Vice President Gore or "a big leap" as
championed by Bill Bradley regarding now being the time for national health
insurance.
The letter referred to two Globe articles that provided
comparisons between the plans of both Democratic presidential candidates.
However, nowhere is there talk of tort reform! If anyone is serious in
controlling costs, the cost of the present legal system must take equal
weight. Add to this the ever-increasing administration
costs that only create more Indians than chiefs. How can anyone believe that
national health insurance, with its gigantic bureau cracy, is a solution?
The stock market has even shown that some health care issues
underperform. The lessons are simply that there are no easy, quick fixes to
health care delivery or reform. The answer lies in ourselves to re-prioritize
our spending. Health care competes with discretionary income prioritized by pop
culture.
The poor, near poor, and the uninsured can have access to
health care still through the federal treasury, as the authors argue. But there
is indisputable evidence that whenever there is an entitlement program, on any
level, it swells the number of individuals attracted to it.
When it
comes to health, excellence is the only acceptable standard. Anything less is is
to betray what made the US health care system the envy of the world, and it is
political pandering at its worst. Does anyone believe that bigger government is
the answer? JOSEPH YAMIN, DMD Leominster
LOAD-DATE:
February 4, 2000 
