As I read Dr. Howard E. Dial’s long-winded article in The Citizen railing against healthcare for those who for whatever reason do not have adequate health insurance, several thoughts came to mind:

First, it should not be a conservative or liberal issue, rather a moral one, something that seems to have escaped this man of the cloth.

Second, we do not have the best overall healthcare system in the world as he proclaims; we are not even in the top 20 by any measure.

Third, nowhere in any of the proposed plans will anyone have to give up their present health insurance plans, period.

Fourth, as the wealthiest country in the world, we have 48 million people without any health insurance, and another 30-40 million with lousy coverage, defined as outrageous premiums, all types of exclusions, high deductibles, high coinsurance and subject to cancelation at the whim of the insurance company.

As long as they have no competition, the insurance companies are not about to “heal themselves.” Thus the need for a government plan for those who want; everyone else stay put.

We have very short memories in this great country. If you go back to the 1960s when Medicare was being discussed, the same arguments were being made then as now in an effort to block Medicare.

While Medicare has its problems, I don’t personally know anyone who is covered by Medicare who would be willing to give it up and try their luck in he open market — see the fourth item above.

Lastly, it seems to me that the good doctor got more of his theology from Rush Limbaugh than he did the Bible. My Bible devotes lots of space to the Christians’ responsibility to care for those in need and makes a point “that to whom much is given, much is required.”

Surely we are a country that has been given much. I ask Dr. Dial to ask himself: What would Jesus do?

Darrell McKinney

Fayetteville, Ga.

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