Health Care Meltdown

The cuts in funding to California’s “safety net” hospitals will certainly affect the poor (Nov. 21). But even if one is cynical enough to ignore the plight of the uninsured and underinsured, the impact upon services that we all take for granted will be devastating. If well-insured individuals are involved in an automobile crash and there is no trauma center, where will they go? If a wealthy couple’s newborn needs emergency surgery and there is no children’s hospital, what will they do? We can no longer deny the crisis situation in our health care infrastructure. Support of the “safety net” is not in the business interests of the insurance industry. Until a publicly administered system of universal coverage is enacted we will continue to drift closer to a health care meltdown.

Gerald Gollin MD

Asst. Prof. of Pediatric Surgery

Loma Linda University