In a Dec. 14 Maine Voices piece, Mary Ann Larson discussed shoring up the social safety net through tax reform (“Tax reform key to solving housing, health care crises.”) As a member of the Maine chapter of the American Medical Association, I wanted to correct her reference to the Maine Medical Association’s recent policy statement as “calling for universal health care insurance coverage.”

In their call for universal health care, they do not specify insurance coverage as we know it but, at the national level, “either an adequately funded single-payer system or a combination of private and public financing where the federal government has, at minimum, regulatory powers over health care delivery to protect consumers and providers from private profit-driven motives.” At the state level, they call for “either an expansion of existing coverage options, or another creative and sustainable solution.”

Otherwise, I applaud Ms. Larson’s piece, especially her conclusion that, “There is money enough to make sure every American has … access to timely health care, with a focus on prevention …” We definitely need to do something; according to Statista, the U.S. health care system ranks 69th in the world.

Daniel Bryant
Cape Elizabeth

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