Letters to the Editor: How is ‘Medicare for all’ ‘unworkable’ when universal healthcare works elsewhere?

To the editor: I like reading contributing writers Veronique de Rugy and Matt K. Lewis, thoughtful commentators I often disagree with and always learn from. But this week, they make assertions that get under my skin.

De Rugy applauds the use of health savings accounts (“The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ got one thing right,” July 10). According to her, they allow people to control their own health decisions. I say they’re another way to hide the cracks in our inadequate healthcare system. Lewis calls “Medicare for all” “unworkable” (“Will Democrats find an anti-Trump to galvanize the left?,” July 11). That’s funny. It works well for many of us over 65. So why is it unworkable for everybody else?

So many of us watch those heartbreaking TV commercials for Shriners and St. Jude’s children’s hospitals. That those institutions need to beg for donations is a terrible indictment of our healthcare system. Shouldn’t every citizen have healthcare as a right? That’s the way it’s done in every other developed country on the planet, with costs far less than what we pay and with superior results.

It’s way past time for universal healthcare.

William Blum, Studio City