Recently, Leonard Hoy wrote to take exception with statistics regarding poor health care in the United States. Hoy counters with tales of recent hospital visits where he was treated efficiently and courteously.

Hoy’s experiences are a small sampling. I’ve had positive experiences with health care in Maine when I or a family member needed emergency care. However, my experiences, plus Hoy’s, still lack statistical significance against experiences in all hospitals across the country.

Why, when our health care is so expensive, do we only rank 37th among developed nations for quality? Why are many of us reticent to overhaul a system being outperformed by 36 other nations at half the cost?

The cost of health care makes it doubly difficult for uninsured to afford a doctor’s visit, and why many die of treatable illnesses like diabetes.

It is sad to see intelligent people duped by propaganda from special interests concerned with protecting their bottom line. I cannot understand why educated people are more offended with denting insurance executive pay than providing universal, quality care.

That 28,000 children under 12 months die each year in the United States so we can maintain the status quo is not fair. It is not just “another unfortunate but inevitable statistic.”

It is a shameful indictment of the richest nation on earth.

Marian O’Brien, Lisbon