Joe Sirois of Rumford wrote to Gerard Dennison, a representative of Sen. Angus King, advocating for universal single payer health care. Mr. Dennison was visiting constituents in Rumford on behalf of the Senator.

Gerard,

Thank you for being in Mexico today and for the nice chat.

We all know that the United States is about the only Western civilized nation that does not provide health care to all of its citizens. We also know that, as a nation, we spend more on health care and have poorer results than many other countries. There are statistics available from many sources so I won’t use that as my reasons for supporting the idea of universal health care.

My main reason for believing that we should have a one-payer universal health care system is ethical.

When I talk about health care I often tell people that I am retired from the U.S. Navy with 28 years of service. I don’t do that so that people will thank me for my service. My country has thanked me by providing my wife and me with health care insurance for the rest of our lives. As I told you today, I believe that the mill worker is serving his country too. He (or she) is making something and creating wealth for the nation but doesn’t know if he will have a job next month or next year. The CNA making barely above minimum wage caring for our elders in a nursing home is also serving our country and deserves the same health care protection that my wife and I have. And so with the teacher and the retail clerk and everybody else.

I could go on and on but here’s my point: If my country could figure out how to ensure health care coverage for all of its retired military personnel, it should be able to figure out how to do it for all of its citizens.

Thank you for representing Senator King in Mexico and for giving me an opportunity to express my concerns about health care.

Respectfully,

Joe Sirois
Rumford, ME