t Health, Insurance Needed i . To the Editor:

Health,

Insurance

Needed

i .

To the Editor:

Every American must have adequate health insurance. The only fair and practical way for those of us who work is through our employers.

Most of the 37 million who do not have insurance get some health care, especially emergency care and major operations or treatments. They don’t get much preventive care, and they wait until they are really sick before getting any help.

This makes their care cost more. They often go to expensive hospital emergency rooms for routine care, and this adds to the cost. Taxpayers, and those who have insurance or' who pay cash, pay these costs. Providers must get paid somehow-they add the non-paying patient’s bill to the paying or insured pathient’s bill. You pay for the uninsured’s health care!

Ninety percent of the insured get their insurance through their employers. Employers who do not provide insurance are getting a free ride and are unfairly competing with those who do. Almost half the doctors in private practice provide no insurance for their office employees.

Congressional committees have reported out schemes for covering the unemployed and for protecting small businesses against unbearable costs.

Every senator and member of Congress and almost every federal employee and retiree is covered by a federal health insurance plan (about 9 million people in all). It is administered by a bureaucracy of about 160 people. The employer pays 75 percent of the premium while the employee pays about $100 a month for family coverage. Many options are available, including doctors chosen freely by the employee.

Congress is stalling on health legislation. Tell your representative and your senators today that you want a plan at least as good as the one they have for themselves, that your taxes are paying for.

AUGUSTUS JOHNSON

Syria