Health Care Reform

As the administrator of CPC San Luis Rey Hospital, I would like to comment on the recent debate on the rising costs of health care. While there is unquestionably a need for improvement, rushing headlong into what seems the simplest, easiest solution--a government-run system of “national health insurance”--will only worsen the situation.

We can bring about necessary improvements without the total and disastrous upheaval of our health care system. Government-imposed health care would result in the rationing of services, reduced quality and increased bureaucracy and inefficient regulation. Conversely, such alternative methods as eliminating unnecessary care, enacting malpractice insurance reform and encouraging the purchasers of health care to be more cost-conscious is a more incremental, responsible approach.

An overall approach that embraces the concept of a joint private-public sector solution would be the most cost-effective way to ensure the continued superior care to which most Americans are now accustomed. We all must cooperate: hospitals, physicians, employers, employees, insurance and pharmaceutical companies and government. Most importantly, we must begin to work together toward the goal of universal access to quality care at a reasonable cost through responsible health care reform.

WILLIAM T. SPARROW, Encinitas