Reforming U.S. Health Care

Ernest Conine’s column “Canada’s Sensible Approach” (Op-Ed Page, March 26) cogently points out that despite a substantial public desire to reform our health care system in the United States, entrenched interests prevent such reform.

Our nation suffers the dubious distinction of being the only Western industrialized country, other than South Africa, without a universal health insurance program. That translates into 37 million Americans without health insurance.

Here in California, recent studies have documented that over 5 million Californians lack health coverage. These are people who have no private health insurance, no Medicare coverage and no Medi-Cal coverage.

Moreover, the high number of uninsured persons place us all in jeopardy when we are in need of emergency medical services, and the local trauma center has closed due to high demand for indigent health care.

Regrettably, Los Angeles County has seen a dismantling of its trauma system precisely because of rising numbers of the uninsured, and the lack of adequate funds to pay for this uncompensated care.

Barring a significant response on the federal level in the coming years, we must work to ensure that our next governor addresses the issue of the uninsured in California with a universal program, possibly modeled on Canada’s. In the interim, we need to put our efforts behind short-term solutions like the Alcohol Tax Initiative, which would infuse significant new funding into local hospitals and trauma centers.

EDMUND D. EDELMAN

Supervisor, Third District

Los Angeles County