Health Care Needs No Socialism

I read with great enthusiasm and interest the commentary by Mr. Chauncey Alexander (“Indigent Care Catastrophes Product of Dysfunctional System,” July 14), and I must respond for myself, and I am sure for other members of the medical profession.

I believe Mr. Alexander’s comments, although some of them quite accurate, are somewhat gilded and disguised in his own private socialism.

He wants to turn the health-care system into a utility like the electric company, rather than a health-care system for the betterment of the people.

I am sure he will agree that the electric company and other utilities, run under a multitude of restrictions, are filled with a multitude of bureaucracies and difficulties far beyond what we’ve ever seen in medicine.

If Mr. Alexander wants to remodel the health-care system into the right for each of us to have medical care, then I believe he should start from a better premise and one that has more credibility and more success. I would hate to see the health-care system turn into the post office or other utilities in which the red tape and the hassle far exceed the care of the individual.

Mr. Alexander has always been a confidante of the medical association, and I am sure his comments have been well-received and appreciated; however, I think Mr. Alexander needs to go back to square one and re-evaluate health care and its delivery, and at least have some sympathy for those who provide the medical care and try to do so to the best of their ability, and in doing so at least be able to provide such services with an income comparable to a social worker.

FRANK L. AMATO, MD, Fullerton