As a person who has traveled widely, I can attest to the quality of health care abroad. I got sick in both Britain and Holland. In both cases, a phone call quickly brought a doctor to my hotel room where I was immediately diagnosed and prescribed effective treatment. I never got a bill. In this country, were I not a veteran I would be long dead.
The guest commentary authored by the Konocti Unified School District Board (Record-Bee, Nov. 16) was difficult for me to read since it was written in bureaucratese rather than the plain English I was taught back in the 1950s. There is little wonder that the skyrocketing numbers of Johnnies who can”t read is keeping pace with the “sky-rocketing (sic) cost of medical insurance”.
I waded through the verbiage and gathered that the board believes that the district is doing a good job in improving the dismal test scores its students have shown in the past. It also believes that teachers, staff and administrators should receive fair pay and a good health insurance plan. My, my, welcome to the real world. That is exactly what every working person wants.
Many, if not most, of the students both inside and outside of the district do not have adequate health insurance, nor do their parents. Many have no health insurance at all. The board is partial to plans proposed by the governor and members of the state legislature. These are stop gap measures, which would simply provide more corporate welfare for the health insurance industry. Meanwhile, they seek an interim solution to their own personal health care crises.
Buried in this turgid piece was the threat that ? unless they are granted the additional funding they desire ? they may need to cut services to the very students they profess to care so much about rather than bite any bullets themselves. The board”s view seems selfish and shortsighted since they are only facing the same squeeze that most Americans face. Why should they have what the students and their parents do not?
The board asked for ideas. The solution to the entire health care crisis is national universal health care, which every modern nation has with the exception of the United States of America. We need to demand this of our government. If our government does not respond, we should take to the streets repeatedly until it does. We are all in the same boat. Everyone should pull together instead of only trying to get for his or her own little group. It is long past the time for us to stand up and be counted. We must decide whether we are to be citizens or subjects.
Wellman Moody
Clearlake
