From the mailbag

Reader CD, a former non-profit director, chimes in on health care ...

It's interesting because at the shelter, the adult residents were almost without exception uninsured and relied on the emergency room for care. They, of course, couldn't pay the bills, were chased down by collectors, and the hospital (and, thus, me and you) ended up eating the costs. Now I'm working at a bankruptcy law firm and it's a similar story. The difference is that the people in bankruptcy were, at some point, middle class enough to have credit. Their medical expenses are a significant source of their debt, but for them its mostly on credit cards. My assumption is that most of these folks were underinsured as opposed to uninsured, but that might not be entirely correct. Bankruptcy allows folks in this situation (at great cost, of course, to them in terms of credit and such) to discharge that debt, pay it at a reduced amount, etc. Here, too, the cost of that is rolled onto others (again, me and you) by the credit card companies.

I'm no economist, but I have to believe that, in the end, the burden to the "average taxpayer" will not be much different under a reformed system. Also, I believe it to be a moral issue - this issue of prohibiting citizens from receiving the health care they need based on their ability to pay.

Likewise, reader AK offers the following ...

What I think very strongly is that health care costs are killing families like mine. I work for a company that pays my health insurance but no dental. My husband, who is self-employed and has been for 14 years, and two children are covered by a separate plan. For 14 years we have gone from one miserable plan to another. Companies offer a halfway decent premium the first year and then the second year raise the premium anywhere from 25% to 50%. It has gotten so expensive that we now have a plan that pays nothing until a very high deductible is met, that's for each person. The ironic thing is that people like us are probably the ONLY people that pay the full price for care because our insurance company does not negotiate reduced prices. People complain about socialized medicine but my question is this, what percentage of working-Americans work for the government - local, state, or federal - and therefore receive government sponsored insurance? Seems like we already have universal health care for a high percentage of Americans and the rest of us are paying for it in taxes and high medical costs.

And reader RMD sounds off on Erick Erickson ...

I went to Mercer when Eric Erickson was there. He was as big of a douchebag and a blowhard in undergrad as he is now. Total joke then. Even bigger joke now. What a waste of air. The people at Mercer are constantly shaking their heads at him. He is an embarrassment. He is angling to try and get as big as he can get ... by being a s***-for-brains, yes man to the fundy-fringe. I wish I could say good luck in even getting to the pearly gates, but I believe that God's grace has room for even him.