To the editor:

I have just been watching CNN compare health costs and health results between some of the European and Canadian programs and ours. If we were to compare the results only for those with health insurance in the United States on effectiveness we would look better but be even more costly.

A charge is made that the government insurance would be unfair competition. It seems to me that private insurance has been tried and found wanting. A charge is made that this is moving toward “socialism.” This is used as a scare tactic with socialism being used as a dirty word.

In a limited way, it is only a recognition that some things are done better by society as a whole working together. Among the social entities are our public schools, air traffic control program, our highway system, our fire protection and the police protection. These are all recognized as best done together.

Personally, I would prefer a single-payer program of health insurance, but with the tremendous donations of the drug and health insurance groups to members of Congress, this is probably impossible to accomplish at this time. But we need to work toward it.