Our poor health

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Frederick Anderson ("Replace Obamacare," Public Forum, Aug. 2) thinks that the government should not be involved in health care, only the private marketplace. There are at least two issues with this view: (1) A founding principle of our Constitution clearly states that the general welfare is a primary concern of the government and (2) The profit motive adds another layer of cost to health care that is absent from such government programs as Medicare and Medicaid.

Much of health care in the U.S. is already in private hands, that is why the U.S. suffers from some of the world's highest health care costs and some of the poorest outcomes in the industrial world. The freedom to select health care plans that Mr. Anderson advocates is an integral part of Obama's health care initiative.

Robert Brossard

Salt Lake City