I am a registered nurse with health care coverage per my husband's provider and have been following the national debate over universal health care since the primaries. As someone who has a foot in both camps, so to speak, I feel it is important for people to know that we already have a national health care plan financed with our tax dollars. It's called the Emergency Room. When you hear that 47 million Americans are uninsured, where do you think those people go when they are ill or injured? Since the cost of an emergency room visit is much higher than the cost of consistent consultations with a primary care provider, the choice is ours to make.

Opponents of national health care present bogus nightmare scenarios designed to elicit an emotional response instead of promoting honest discussion. If we want to participate in candid dialogue, we have to expend some energy and do research instead of believing phony claims that Canadians are dying by the dozens, waiting months for appointments, or assigned providers due to socialized medicine. I pay a premium price for rationed health care, wait months for an appointment with a designated provider, and recently refused a commonly prescribed medication because my co-pay was $68 out a total cost of $75. I can be dropped at any time by my carrier.

In the United States, insurance and pharmaceutical companies operate for profit, and that means we are paying the maximum amount the market will bear for services rendered. Keep in mind, both have powerful lobbyists in Washington, D.C., to maintain the status quo, current with a total expenditure of $1.4 million a day. A former CEO of Cigna, Mr. Wendell Potter, has been actively supporting a national health care plan that is similar to our current Medicare delivery system, and I find myself in agreement with him. More information on this issue can be found at the Web site Healthcare for America Now, so, hopefully, this will be a starting point for making an informed decision regarding your health care.