I was interested to read columnist Victoria Hugo-Vidal’s view of the recent murder of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson (Dec. 15). She does seem to be speaking for many people in the country who are fed up with insurance companies putting profit above health care.

In my view, this angry energy is misdirected. Our health care system has become a for-profit industry. In a for-profit industry, one should expect that companies will strive for maximum benefit for their executives and shareholders, rather than for maximum benefit for their customers.

Presidents from both parties, going back to Theodore Roosevelt, have proposed national health insurance as the optimal financial structure for our health care system. Instead, we have our current system because we elect representatives and senators who favor private insurance with its massive administrative cost and profit motive.

I wish we all would redirect our attention from the perfectly predictable behavior of for-profit companies to this structural problem in our health care system. We should all demand that our political representatives in Washington reject the private insurance lobby and take seriously the need for single-payer national health insurance.

Reviewing the compelling arguments supporting single-payer national health insurance is beyond the scope of this letter, but for those interested in learning more, I would suggest starting with policy papers of the American College of Physicians (see ACPonline.org) and Physicians for a National Health Program (see https://pnhp.org).

Robyn Goshorn, MD, FACP
Portland