Editor, The Herald:

I was upset with Robert Hurt's (R-5th) comments concerning health care. The health care bill certainly has flaws. However, I waited for years for the Republicans to address the issue, and they chose not to. With family health insurance premiums projected to rise in the decades ahead to over $30,000, we cannot afford to do nothing. As a political independent, I don't care which party does the job, just get it done.

Last year my wife and I spent thousands of dollars to insure our child separately. He was excluded from our policy due to a pre-existing condition for which he no longer received treatment. That additional premium, on top of the already high cost of our health insurance policy is a heck of a financial burden. Now that this rip-off is finally illegal, Mr. Hurt wants to bring it back? Mr. Hurt didn't say fine-tune the bill, he said “I look forward to working to repeal and defund the government takeover of health care.”

This statement of a “government takeover of health care” is untrue. That conclusion was reached by the conservative Richmond-Times-Dispatch. In the Dec. 19 edition, they found Mr. Hurt's statement to be “wrong” and False (their capitalization). Such criticism is especially notable from a newspaper whose board includes Eric Cantor's wife, and which endorsed his election.

Health care problems need to be addressed, not sensationalized. Those of us who pay for insurance also help pay for some who choose not to get any, since it is illegal for emergency rooms to turn down anyone. When a patient can't pay, we all do and our premiums rise. Do we turn down unconscious victims because they don't have an insurance card? Do we turn down kids because of their parent's decision? There are no easy answers and no free lunch. No one wants to see people forced to get insurance, but I don't like paying more because of their decision. Where is the personal responsibility? I know a man, a nice guy who chose not to carry health insurance. He had a serious auto accident, with medical bills exceeding $1,000,000. He couldn't pay, but the hospital didn't close. In fact, the CEO's who run health organizations are often paid millions. This is for doing such a great job in controlling costs?

We need integrity and hard work in Washington. Respectfully, I don't feel that Mr. Hurt is making a great start.

James A. Podlesni

Green bay