TO THE EDITOR:

This week is Cover the Uninsured Week, May 1-7, 2006. The costs of health care have increased 74 percent over the last 5 years, while income is only up 27 percent. The number of uninsured continues to increase; there now are 46 million Americans without health coverage, of these, 8 million are children. The benefit package is also decreasing for those with coverage and their premiums are increasing as well. In contrast, health insurance companies, like oil companies are earning record profits. Dr. Bill McGuire, health of United Health Care, earned $55,000 per hour last year and also was the beneficiary of a Bush Tax Cut. It is time for Democrats and Republicans to work together to provide full coverage for all Americans. As a nation, we pay more for less coverage than any developed nation on earth. There are solutions, among them a Republican-sponsored mandatory coverage bill supplemented with expanded public coverage for those that cannot afford health insurance to a single-payer system championed by the Green Party and the norm for most developed countries in the world. According to Catholic social teaching, health care is a right, similar to education, that society should provide.

Robert G. Walz
North Branch