Payson Roundup

Editor:

I am a 64-year-old retiree and my monthly insurance premium is more than $1,700 a month. This at a time when health insurance CEOs receive seven-digit salaries and insurance company stockholders receive record dividends.

Health care reform is critical to deterring the increasing cost of health insurance premiums and to reduce costs to America’s employers who must compete in a global market. Few Americans can afford a $1,700 monthly premium for one person.

I support a public option as it alone will provide the competition necessary to keep premiums at a reasonable level. The for-profit insurance companies have spent millions in the last two years to defeat a public option as they know that competition will reduce their dividends and may affect their ability to pay seven-digit salaries to CEOs, provide perks and to spend millions on lobbying. It is important to understand the features of health care reform and not be swayed by ads underwritten by insurance companies and other entities that benefit from high health care costs. Reform will not affect choice or the relationship between patients and their physician.

Barbara Sapp