Health Care Should Be Free

To the Editor: Once again, the so-called Citizens Budget Commission is suggesting sacrifices by moderately compensated and low-paid city workers to balance the municipal budget ("CDC Menu for Savings May Make Workers Gag," by Richard Steier, Sept. 11 Chief-Leader). Don't ever hold your breath waiting for this "commission" to suggest that the rich people who fund it pay more in taxes. The main thrust of this article is that state workers must contribute payments for their health plans but city workers don't.

This is an issue only because the United States remains the only advanced Western country that does not provide complete health-care coverage funded by the government. So whether or not a non-elderly person has health coverage provided to them is determined by what job they have or if they even have a job. Even those who are old enough for Medicare find that coverage is limited, which is why many pay for additional coverage.