In a recent op-ed, Robert Nutting, speaker of the Maine House, warns of dire consequences if the Democrats regain control of the Legislature (Maine Voices, “Democrats want to undo progress in Augusta,” Sept. 13).

Bragging about Republican leadership, he addresses several important issues in a piecemeal fashion. It is difficult to see how the last few years have accomplished anything of note except for calling attention to bizarre, embarrassing behavior.

The speaker’s words are a cornucopia of falsehoods, the worse of which comes in his incredible claim that if the Democrats took back control of the Legislature, they would repeal the laws the Republicans “rammed through” on a party-line vote, and “we would return on a path to single-payer, inefficient, government-run health care.”

Ramming legislation through on party-line voting in itself is irresponsible, especially when designed to stop a form of health care that our nation critically needs to turn our economy around. Let’s set the record straight. Our government-run health care, known as Medicare, now covers about 50 million senior and disabled Americans and has an overhead cost of less than 5 percent while enjoying immense popularity.

Private for-profit insurers shouldering enormous executive compensation and stockholder demands are struggling to come in below the federally mandated 20 percent overhead rate. All other developed countries have adopted a single-payer or single-payer-like system, making health care a human right.

They cover all their residents and get better health results than we do. Their systems are far more popular with their voters than is ours, so much so that no politician who wants to stay in office dares to threaten to change them. And they do this at an average cost per person of about half of what we are spending.

Richard C. Dillihunt, M.D. is a resident of Portland.