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Morning Sentinel
Sacrifices needed for health-care solutions
Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 09/06/2008

I appreciate Jonathan Henry's article about his health crises and universal health-care coverage.

He motivates me to keep our family health insurance although it costs our family a fifth of our income.

My husband and I love our jobs and have enough resources to care for our children. But I am frustrated by the cost of health benefits we rarely use. Our money pays for Anthem executives' multi-million-dollar bonuses.

If I stopped working, our family would qualify for Maine Care.

If we dropped our private health insurance and childcare, we would save as much as I am earning.

I understand my clients who say it does not pay to work.

There are no simple answers to our health-care dilemma.

We need to make some sacrifices to ensure care for all at a lower cost to taxpayers, employers, workers.

I hope that would not mean denying care to a 44-year-old man.

I do admire my grandmother, who died peacefully by requesting palliative care only and declining costly medical treatment.

What can we do to further new health-care initiatives?

Let's try more group care for prevention and chronic disease management; more care by mid-level practitioners; more incentives for exercise, smoking cessation; more options for catastrophic coverage only.

Rebecca Dorr, LCSW

Mount Vernon

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