On Jan. 9, I and 43 others testified before the Insurance and Financial Services Committee at the State House at a hearing on LD 1345, a bill to promote a single-payer health care system for the state of Maine.

Rep. Charlie Priest sponsored the bill and he and 41 others laid out all the cogent arguments for a plan that will provide health coverage for every Maine resident on a non-profit basis.

People would be free from the fear of economic disaster, would be able to consult their family physician instead of the local emergency room, and get timely treatment before it is too late to save their lives.

Three Farmington residents spoke out — Dr. Roger Condit, Prof. John Rosenwald and myself. My testimony was this: “I have had the privilege, and experienced the joy, of what was closest to a single-payer health care system for 27 years at Tri-County Mental Health Services. I could always work with the assurance that our clients received ample time for a thorough evaluation; that they got the therapy they needed, the medications they needed and the professional followup required for the best possible outcome with their illness.”

I urged the committee, for economic reasons, for reasons of justice, for reasons of quality of health care, and for purely moral reasons, to support that legislation.

John Sytsma, Farmington

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