Letters to the editor

Is Health Care really just a privilege?

The article "Reform isn't the Cure" was disturbing because it talks about health care being a privilege rather than a right. Does any parent really have a right to deny their children health care? Think about that.

What justice is there in children dying? In the United States, infant mortality rates are 6.22 out of 1,000 live births, of children dying under the age of one, according to the CIA world fact book.

To put it in perspective, 44 other countries have lower infant mortality rates than the U.S. does, including Cuba and the Northern Mariana Islands.

We can judge a society not by how it treats its healthiest and most useful members, but how it chooses to value those most in need. When thinking about mandating health care, think about all the lives that could be saved by simple education, by preventative care and by occasional hospital visits.

If we care about equality, we have to let every child in this country have a right to at least a basic standard of health. That's a right, not a privilege.

When thinking about my tax dollars going to health care, I don't become angry. I think it's about time our government got around to addressing the sanctity of human life.

Diana Pillsbury

Political Science, '11