The United States would do well to zero out most of the byzantine health insurance coverage we now suffer under, and create a national, universal health insurance program. There is a resolution pending in the New Hampshire House, HR 23, in committee on Feb. 9, to call upon our Congressional delegation to do just that. Our current system of health insurance is splintered into a multitude of private and public plans which: 1) Do not cover all patients. 2) Divide recipients into many different risk pools, negating the basic ideal of insurance in which lots of people participate in a single large risk pool. 3) Create enormous administrative costs borne by DHHS in administering Medicaid. 4) Create enormous administrative costs borne by hospitals and doctors’ offices interfacing with many different health insurance plans of their patients. 5) Drag down the efficiency of delivering health care, as the insurance specialists in each office (who could otherwise be delivering care to patients) have to negotiate the maze of what is or isn’t covered for each individual patient.

New Hampshire and the U.S. can and must do better. New Hampshire HR 23 calls upon New Hampshire’s Congressional delegation to pursue and pass legislation for a national, universal health care program. I urge readers to sign in at gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/remotetestimony/, choose Friday, Feb. 9, and select State and Federal Relations Committee, then follow the directions to register your support and comments.

Fred Portnoy

Canterbury