With our national debt prorated at $31,743 for every man, woman and child in the United States, there appeared a story on the AP newswire that grabbed my attention. Headlined "Study: Workers to pay more for health care," it reminded me what a situation we are in.

We are the only industrialized country that has not completely revamped how health care payment is processed. We cling to a situation where profit-making companies scrape off on average of over 20 percent of every health care dollar just to process the money intended for our health care - and according to the latest survey of New Hampshire's primary care physicians, we get no value added by these companies in return.

We each cannot afford to pay down our portion of the debt, pay for energy, pay for health care and live unless we are each very wealthy.

Being frugal isn't just for the guy next door. In health care, at least, we can take out the unnecessary middleman and spend about 20 percent less.

Look at H.R. 676, the United States National Health Insurance Act. Insurance companies hate it, and as a result, New Hampshire politicians dismiss it. It gives you comprehensive health care you can actually afford, and it leaves your health care up to you and your doctor, not a profit-making payment processor and not the government.

JOHN R. SWARTZ

Ashland