Letters to the Editor

Letter: We must improve health care

When a company can buy the rights to manufacture a medicine that had previously been dispensed for free and then begins charging a third of a million dollars for a year's supply, our system is a corrupt.

When my friend, Derek, is dying for lack of 120 pills because they cost $70,000, our system is run by bean counters, not human beings with a heart and a soul.

When a local young man develops a chronic illness, has no insurance because he’s starting a business , then takes his life to protect his family’s finances because he can’t afford the weekly treatments, our system is a disgraceful failure.

When I go see a surgeon and he can't even begin to tell me how much I'm ultimately going to have to pay for the procedure he intends to perform, our dishonest system sets us up for bankruptcy.

When I see flyers advertising car washes and bake sales and when I witness people having to liquidate their assets to afford the medical procedures they need to stay alive, our system makes me feel utterly ashamed and embarrassed.

When I have to battle my insurance company tooth and nail to honor their promises to me -- and then fail to receive the benefits I paid for -- our system is pure trickery and structured for the profiteers, not the patients.

Lovers of our for-profit health care system, please help me understand why our system is the best in the world, because I’m just not feeling it. Our sick and injured are nothing more than feed stock for a heartless, gluttonous, corrupt industry.

ADVERTISEMENT

In every industrial country but ours, when you get sick, the only thing you have to worry about is getting better. Medicare For All is the best way to insure everyone, improve care and reduce costs. Please contact Rep. Don Young and ask him to support House Resolution 1384.

- Eric Treider

Soldotna

Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.

Eric Treider

Eric Treider is running for Alaska Senate, District O. He's a semi-retired oilfield worker and gold miner. He and his wife Nelma live in Soldotna.

ADVERTISEMENT