Protection for the Insurance Industry

Re “New Law Aids Victims of Terrorism,” Nov. 27: President Bush signed the terror insurance bill, saying that “should terrorists strike America again, we have a system in place to address financial losses and get our economy back on its feet as quickly as possible.” This would ensure that insurance companies and real estate developers do not suffer overwhelming financial losses in a catastrophic terror event.

Would that he sign a similar bill for the more than 40 million Americans who do not have health insurance, who may suffer overwhelming medical bills in a catastrophic event and who do not have a system in place to address their financial losses.

Bush said a result of the bill would be that the nation’s hard hats will get back to work. If he were serious about getting Americans back to work, he would provide health insurance for those times that Americans cannot work.

Elizabeth A. Bancroft MD

L.A. County Department of Health Services

*

Bush heralded that “terrorism insurance will help get America’s hard hats back on the job” (Nov. 20). He looked very concerned about the middle class as he gave his speech with a group of hard hats standing right behind him on the podium. You would never guess this is one of the biggest political payoffs in history. The insurance industry gave Bush $1,644,662 (reference: www.opensecrets.org), and that only includes the money we can trace. This law has nothing to do with the hard hats because it is nothing but a payback to the insurance industry for a $1.6-million campaign contribution -- and it comes out of our pockets.

Robert Ericson

Concord, Calif.