Hsieh LTE in Pueblo Chieftain

The February 17, 2008 edition of the Pueblo Chieftain published one of my LTE's:

Don't mandate insurance

I want to thank The Pueblo Chieftain for its strong editorial against the ill-considered plan by the Colorado Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform ("Mantra of a crisis").

Their proposed system of mandatory health insurance already has been tried in Massachusetts and is failing. Costs there are already more than three times what was originally predicted, and the Boston Globe reports that it is expected to "cut payments to doctors and hospitals, reduce choices for patients, and possibly increase how much patients have to pay."

Nor did the program produce the promised savings. Instead, the state is asking the federal government to help with the shortfall.

These government-imposed plans violate the rights of individuals to freely choose what health insurance plans are best for them, and, as a result, lead only to rising costs and rationing. If Coloradans value their lives and their health, they will also reject this deadly proposal.

For more information on genuine free-market health care reform for Colorado, please see www.WeStandFIRM.org .

Paul Hsieh, MD
Sedalia