Community Perspective by Richard Seifert on universal health care

Rich Seifert's piece in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner today has provoked quite a lot of comment on the merits (or perceived lack therof) of a single-payer universal health care system. He writes this:

Davis ultimately compares our system to those of other industrialized nations, making a compelling case for a publicly financed system of single-payer national health insurance.

All the members of the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital Foundation have a copy of this book, and I hope they have all read it. It is hard to do so and not come to the conclusion that the U.S. desperately needs a universal, publicly financed health care system. What’s more though, is that we as a nation also need to totally eliminate the insurance industry’s hold on our payer system.

The comments are very interesting, ranging from the irate to the very thoughtful and informative with supporting links and references. "Stakeholder" has found some very intriguing testimony by Dr. Linda Peeno to the US House subcommittee on Health and Environment.