Diagnosing medical care

Re “Moore hype of healthcare film hits fever pitch,” June 13

Why does The Times call a Medicare-like system for payment of healthcare in California a “nonstarter”? Last year, both houses of the state Legislature passed SB 840, which would have moved California in that direction, but the bill was vetoed by the governor. Is there anyone who wants to eliminate Medicare? No, because it works and has much lower overhead than private plans. A similar plan for California residents would work too, and cover everyone at a lower cost than our current, broken system.

Many people support this concept, and The Times does the state a disservice to discount it out of hand.

ANN MILLMAN

Long Beach

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The Times’ June 13 edition contains a front-page article telling the horror story of a patient at a government-run hospital writhing on the floor, throwing up blood and not getting any help. A desperate man called 911, and later, a good Samaritan did the same thing and was treated tersely by the operator.

In the California section, there is an article about Michael Moore’s new movie, in which he advocates that all hospitals effectively become government-run hospitals. Yo, Michael, the 911 system is overloaded as it is! Even the communists found out that draconian government controls cannot override supply and demand. Rather than socializing medical care, we need to increase the supply -- build more medical schools, allow nurses to write prescriptions and allow medics who served in the military to perform some functions of doctors.

MARK A. OVERTURF

Reseda