To the editor:

I think the health care issue can be boiled down into two concerns: (1) getting health insurance for those people who cannot afford it, and (2) reining in costs while not denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.

To solve this, we don’t need a government-run health care program that covers everyone. What we need is to solve concern No. 1 by providing health care ONLY to those who cannot afford it. We need to solve concern No. 2 with government oversight on health care costs, allowing folks to buy insurance from other states and making it much more difficult for trial lawyers to sue doctors and hospitals over frivolous claims. We should allow folks who already have health insurance to keep it. With government oversight on costs while allowing a free-market and competitive market approach to health care while cutting out “ambulance-chasers” from the equation, we can make huge strides in reform while not spending ourselves into oblivion.

We simply don’t want an expensive and unnecessary government-run, i.e., public option, health care program. Just look at the results of the government running the post office, Medicare and Social Security — all disasters.