I’d just like to point out one ironic piece in Millie Fonda’s letter, “Held hostage by health care.”

She referenced Tricare as being “exceptional health care insurance.” God help us all if this is the kind of health care we aspire to as a nation. In eight years of military service, we’ve had numerous battles with Tricare. Forget waiting up to 20 minutes in the appointment line, or not being able to be seen for four to six weeks (yes, I know there’s the lottery option that pits us against each other as we call at 7 a.m. and hope for a cancellation opening), or not being considered much more than a Social Security number while the well-meaning doctors file us through their appointment slots like cans of soup.

Doesn’t Ms. Fonda remember the fiasco last year when Whidbey General was considering cutting Tricare patients because that insurance company paid out less than Medicaid? And who can blame them when medical professionals are only getting paid something like 30 cents to the dollar?

If this is how great “free” health care is for “America’s finest” troops and families, I am saddened to think that the rest of our nation wants to be a part of a system like this: a mediocre, inundated beauracracy.

You get what you pay for folks. Health care isn’t a right, I’m sorry to say. It is a privilege and a benefit that falls outside of the role of what a government should provide for its citizens. As callous as that may sound when you hear the emotional arguments, any honest reflection on logic and the U.S. Constitution will show that this is true. There are other ways to approach the health care fiasco than to provide universal coverage.

Ellie Peck

Oak Harbor