LETTER: The perils of government-run health care

The Review-Journal’s Saturday editorial (“One size fits all”) describes the potential horrors of government-run health care. What it left out is described in another Saturday article regarding the new residency program in the Las Vegas Valley Health System.

The biggest concern of “free government health care” — aside from the pitiful performance of government-run anything — is the availability of competent doctors and nurses. When the government reimburses health care providers under Medicare, it offers nowhere near the cost of providing those services. Doctors and hospitals must increase the costs to privately insured individuals to ensure an adequate return.

How many amazing people are going to spend eight to 10 years in school and residency for the pittance the government would offer? The health care system in this country would fold like a cheap suit, to the peril of every American without the resources to find care in another country.