The nation’s health care system is in crisis. Health care is something that everyone in this nation deserves. It shouldn’t be a privilege for wealthy people. A public option would make health care affordable for everyone.

I’m not sure what members of Congress mean by a “health-care co-op.” Frankly, I’m not sure that I want to know, but it sounds to me like just another way to buy private health insurance.

That is the last thing those in this state who are struggling with the high cost of insurance need right now.

At my age of 91, I am lucky to have a public plan for health care that’s served me well: Medicare. Is Medicare not an example of a public health care system that works for millions of Americans?

Most Americans are at the mercy of the private insurance industry. What we need, what everyone in this country needs, is a strong, affordable public option, not another way to purchase private insurance.

Health insurance companies answer to their stockholders, not the people who they insure. That is the flaw in the nation’s health care system. No one should profit from another person’s pain and suffering.

With a public plan, health care would be about people, not profits.

My message to members of Congress would be a co-op won’t change the fact the American people are at the mercy of health insurers. Only a public health care plan that is affordable and accessible for everyone can change that sad fact.

Theresa Pelletier, Lewiston