Please support health care reform, Rep. Kratovil

This is an open letter to Rep. Frank Kratovil.

As a physician practicing in Maryland I ask you to support the health insurance reform legislation. Today's Congressional Budget Office report finds it fiscally acceptable. We can't go on as a competitive country with more than 30 million people who don't have access to adequate health insurance and with our industries carrying inordinate health care cost burdens when competing abroad. While the legislation is not perfect, it's an important start. Children will be covered until age 26; small businesses will have help in offering a plan for their employees; people will no longer face bankruptcy when they have major illness and have been denied coverage.

I know that you support the concept of this legislation in your heart, even though you represent a conservative district of our state. The only Americans whose health outcomes are comparable to those in other countries are Medicare beneficiaries. Government's role in health care is salutary, and the abuses of the so-called free market system in the area of health insurance are egregious. Please stand up for this needed reform -- we won't get another opportunity for a long time. Thanks for your consideration

Stuart Silver, Columbia