To The Reader’s Forum:

Before I went to the WCA lab for some blood work yesterday, I never realized how badly we need a single payer health care system. Maybe it was the association with Pittsburgh, but for some reason the beaurocracy and the paperwork has multiplied. The receptionists are visibly stressed, and for the most part, no longer greet the patient with a smile. I received from my doctor a questionnaire that amounts to an autobiography. Medicare for all would, I think, remove most of that burden.

And please spare me the rant about “socialist healthcare” as Tom Morgan called it in a recent article. He should know that we have lived in a country with a mixed economy since its beginning. Socialism is nothing more than public ownership. Like highways, police departments, power plants, and many other things. We pay for those things with taxes, and all enjoy the benefits.

A single payer health care plan for the USA is long overdue. We should take this opportunity to get it done.

Samuel C. Alessi

Jamestown