Indeed, more people will be covered with the legislation passed recently by the House of Representatives and up for debate in the Senate, but this legislation will not address adequately the very significant problem of the current cost and anticipated escalation of it.
The legislation is very complex, administratively cumbersome, inefficient and difficult to implement and monitor. At the same time, insurance and pharmaceutical companies will remain largely unregulated and will continue to derive inordinate profits from their operation.
In the process of reforming the system, our legislators lost sight of the guiding principles for the reform. They have failed to put aside their preconceptions, biases and above all their personal interests. To achieve a truly meaningful reform our legislators needed to have given fair consideration to the single-payer systems that function very well in other countries and achieve universal coverage at reasonable cost to their societies.
If they are truly committed to achieving a meaningful reform, they must at least incorporate a strong, well structured public plan in the reform. Otherwise, they would be ignoring the principles that brought this issue to the forefront and neglecting some of the very fundamental needs of our society.
GUSTAVO S. MONTANA
Chapel Hill
Throwback jerseys
I'm responding to Claudia C. Cannady's letter, "Seeing Red" (Nov. 18).
I'm not sure Cannady knows this, but those uniforms were a part of the celebration of 100 years of Carolina basketball. During the season, the team will wear throwback jerseys from various seasons. These particular uniforms were from the Heels; 1957 NCAA Championship season under Coach Frank McGuire. The red trim was McGuire's idea because he wanted to put a "New York Flair" on them. I personally thought they were pretty cool looking.
As you probably noticed, the red-trimmed jerseys were temporary, but look out for more throwbacks in coming games.
CHRIS WHITE
Durham
