The harsh truth about American medical care

Cathy Seipp’s “Battling Cancer -- and Blue Cross” (Current, April 23) should be required reading for President Bush, every member of Congress and the boards and stockholders of every pharmaceutical and insurance company. Add every healthy and fortunate citizen who’s so far not had to face up to any of the tricks that life has a way of playing and decries the evils of “socialized medicine.”

They should also look at the plight of the lower-middle and middle-income senior who needs similarly expensive cancer and heart medications while struggling to keep her home, pay taxes and supplemental health insurance and remain independent. There is no other civilized First World country that forces its citizens into the position that Seipp and American seniors find themselves as we continue to aid the corporate world to amass the biggest profits in its history.

ELEANOR JACKSON

Palm Springs