Government Health Care?

It's all you hear in the news these days - the Health Care bills.

One the one side, conservatives who want to fix ONLY what is wrong - the expense of health care. On the other side, the liberals who want to completely gut the entire health care industry and rebuild it to government specs, to give the government the ultimate power over its citizens.

So, where do you stand? That should be an easy question, being from Maine, where we already have a "government option" health care system. It's called DIRIGO. When first introduced, we were told it would insure 150,000 (it only insures 10,000); we were told it would reduce costs (costs have increased 73%); and we were told it would be paid for by savings (there were no savings).

These are the exact same claims Congress is making for their health care bill, which is basically DIRIGO SENIOR. It has not worked in Maine, and it will not work nationally.

Massachusetts also instituted a state-subsidized health care system. It, too, has bankrupted the state. The same with two other states that initiated such plans - in no case do they provide what the sponsors promised.

So, now we have a chance to stand up and say "Enough!" If we do not, then we will be forever stuck with a substandard, increasingly expensive health care system we will come to hate.

/