Since my friend Robert Quimby invoked the name of my late aunt Sister Mary Eva Loyacono, R.S.M., I feel compelled to disagree with some of the assumptions and conclusions concerning health care insurance reform contained in his letter to the editor of March 28. My aunt, administrator of Mercy Regional Medical Center, was passionate about the availability of affordable health care for all.

First, it is debatable as to whether we have the best health care “system” in the world. Yes, our technology and individual physicians are generally unsurpassed. However, a “system” is more than that. When 32 million citizens have no insurance, when even middle class families are thrown into bankruptcy because of illness, when insurance companies can cancel coverage after illness strikes or increase premiums at their whim, this part of the system is far from the best in the world and calls for reform.

Kelly Loyacono is an attorney who practices in Vicksburg.

Quimby is admittedly “fearful” of the future in the Glenn Beck-sense, but I think that our country is the greatest and strongest in the world and capable of dealing with these problems. If you define socialism as any government involvement, then it is far too late since government paid 49 percent of every heath-related cost before this bill.

In order to be viable, the health care system must include all citizens, not just older and sicker ones. We are forced to buy auto insurance, to wear motorcycle helmets, to pay taxes, so we, as citizens, must do certain things that we might not do for our individual self-interest. The requirement that each of us pay for our insurance is neither “unconstitutional” nor “socialistic.”

I think that we do have people in this administration who love our country as much as anyone in the past. In the list of great but unnamed statesmen of the past, I have the feeling that Quimby would not list either Theodore or Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman or Lyndon Johnson. Yet, where would we be without the civil rights legislation, or corporate and consumer protections of their administrations? I personally think that the U.S. Post Service, the military and Social Security work pretty well; they have funding problems, but who or what doesn’t at the present time? How much do you have to pay USPS to deliver a single letter? Government is necessary in any society; it is neither good nor bad intrinsically, but it should be judged on how well it serves the needs of its citizens. That’s what debates and elections are for.

I agree with Quimby that this particular bill will not cure all of the shortcomings of our present health care system, but it is a start. If our primary goal is the reduction of cost, then the answer is obvious: a single-payer Medicare-like program for everyone is clearly the most cost-efficient. The delivery of health care has not always been profit-driven, and to rid the Gross National Product of the overhead and profit of private insurance companies would go a long way toward reducing total costs.

Countries from Japan to Canada, Germany and Switzerland have acceptable health care systems, but none exceed 11 percent of their GNP, while we are at approximately 17 percent and rising. Even the Republican opponents admit that doing nothing is not an option, yet we have done nothing until now. Doing nothing will burden our children much more than this bill.

I make no judgment on whether the insurance industry’s profits are in the national economic interest, but I do know that to remove the industry’s administrative costs, advertising, political contributions and profit would leave more money for direct care of all citizens. Medicare overhead is many times less than private insurance company’s profit and overhead. If only one person dies because of his inability to afford health care or if one hardworking family loses everything due to a medical bankruptcy, that should be unacceptable to us as Americans.

I applaud rational and reasoned discussion of our nation’s many problems, but I think we must be positive about our future and our ability to solve these problems.

“Figures don’t lie…” as Robert quoted. We must remember that an uninsured person will cost the rest of us money because someone is going to have to pay. I have dealt with insurance companies in all of my professional life as well as personally, and I think that it is their purpose to collect premiums and to pay as few claims as possible. I tend to think that an expanded Medicare system for all American citizens is the most efficient way to go. But, I am for any pragmatic solution which improves most of the problems in our present delivery system.