As a small business owner and an independent insurance agent, I know all too well about the inequalities of the current health care system. Far too many Americans can't afford quality health care and the cost of health care is on an unsustainable upward path. There is no question that Congress must act in a bipartisan manner to implement real and substantive reform of the private market to address the serious problems with our health care system. However, Congress is currently going about this the wrong way.

Some in Washington believe we can fix the system by implementing a government-run health insurance plan to compete against private carriers in the health insurance marketplace. Supporters contend that it will help make the private market more competitive and level the playing filed. That sounds pretty good, right? Except, one only needs to take a look at how our current government-run health insurance plans are operated to realize that the federal government sets it own rues and there is nothing fair or level about them. As it currently stands under Medicare, the federal government sets artificially low reimbursement rates for doctors and hospitals. To quantify, a 2006 Milliman study found that Medicare ultimately shifts an average of $88.8 billion to the private market each year.

So does the proposal on the table saddle the private market with billions of dollars in additional costs but the quality of care is better? No. In fact, Medicare patients have a difficult time finding primary physicians as well as specialists who are willing to treat them. A June 2008 report by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission found that 29 percent of Medicare beneficiaries had problems trying to find specialists. For example, the New York Times reported on April 6 of this year that of the 93 internists affiliated with New York Presbyterian Hospital, only 37 accept Medicare patients.

At the very least, the federal government must run a more efficient and cost-effective health insurance plan, right? No. In fact, Medicare loses $60 billion each year due to fraud alone. According to the Medicare trustees, the Medicare Trust Fund will be exhausted by 2017. In other words, Medicare will effectively be bankrupt in a few years. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that individual and corporate income tax rates would have to rise by about 90 percent to finance the projected increase in spending through 2050.

A government-run health insurance plan would shift billions of dollars in costs to the private market, limit consumer choice, lower the quality of care and increase the taxpayer burden. Does that sound like an insurance plan you would like to have?

The United States has bar none the best doctors and medical facilities in the world. When folks from around the world are stricken with a serious illness or disease, they know they can come to the United States for the best and brightest in medicine. If a government-run insurance plan is implemented, Americans will eventually be left wondering where they can go for the best care.

Stuart N. Salter

Port Arthur