System overdue for an overhaul

The consumer column on employer health plans was right on the mark. (“Employer health plans: OK to ditch?” Dec. 10.) I would add that employer-sponsored insurance is also an inequitable way to finance care.

Younger workers pay a disproportionate share. A tax-based system would be more equitable because the older and generally higher-paid workers pay more in taxes.

Of course, it is the older workers who are more at risk of losing their jobs and not being able to find insurance.

The reality that we fail to grasp is that most Americans, both young and old, are just one job loss and one serious illness away from complete financial ruin.

If people truly understood the implications of this fact, our current system would not be tolerated for even one election cycle.

Frank Erwin

Brentwood, Tenn.

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We desperately need the single-payer option to simplify delivery of healthcare for both physicians and the public. The crisis in primary-care physician shortages can be blamed on the present system, which has degraded and decreased reimbursements to the most important physician group.

By eliminating the middleman -- health insurance companies -- with the excess administrative costs and profits, the monetary resources will return to the table and be distributed where they are most needed: to the public and to the healthcare workers.

Jerome P. Helman, M.D.

Venice