By William D. Clark, M.D.
The Times Record (Brunswick, Maine), Letters, April 9, 2013
Reading your article about the 6-year-old Harpswell girl with severe injuries from a skiing accident (āHarpswell girl, 6, hurt while skiing,ā April 1, Page A1) makes me sad.
Reading about local fundraising to cover her medical costs makes me mad.
Imagining that her family might join others bankrupted by health care costs makes me distressed, with 1,830 estimated Maine health care bankruptcies in 2012.
Maine AllCare thinks every Mainer should have comprehensive health insurance. The year we vote it in, the families of 130,000 citizens with no insurance will be spared from bankruptcy when an accident or leukemia strikes from nowhere.
When we do that, Maine will save $1 billion by not paying insurance-industry profits and salaries, eliminating wasteful billing practices and so on.
Maine AllCare supports an improved Medicare for all. Mainers can and should care for each other this way.
How many bake sales does it take to cover treatment costs for āserious head injuries?ā
Tell your legislators. The choice is yours. Act. And please join me in wishing the youngster a full and speedy recovery.
Dr. William D. Clark resides in Woolwich.