Editor:

An open letter to Sen. Mike Enzi:

In a quote attributed to you in the Casper Star-Tribune you claim that it is a misconception that our senators have government-run health care. While it is true that you receive your health insurance from a private insurer, the program that manages the smorgasbord of insurance companies (Federal Employee Health Benefits program) and deducts your premiums (about 70 percent which are paid by taxpayers) and pays your insurance company is run by your friendly bureaucrats at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Also, you have the luxury of being in a large pool as you stated. We want to be in the large pool, Sen. Enzi!

As a former federal employee, I know how good your insurance is. Heck, it even covered my child's mild asthma and let me buy his meds at a discount. I could not find a private insurance policy that would do that! I also know how well the OPM managed those benefits. I urge the poor suckers who do not have federal health insurance to check out the OPM Web site http://www.opm.gov/insure/ and see what kind of deal they could get if they were in your shoes, senator. We think a choice of 10 health care plans would be pretty nice. Also, for only $503 per year, members of Congress have access to government-run health care at the "Office of the Attending Physician," an elaborate Navy medical clinic in the Capitol building (see http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/congress-health-care-clinic/story?id=8706655). To top it off, according to your Web site, you are now 65 years old so eligible for Medicare, another government-run health insurance.

I want to be able to buy into any one of your plans, Sen. Enzi! I am not looking for a handout, just affordable insurance. I would wager that if you and your colleagues did not have your government-run health care benefit and had to go to an insurance agent and deliver your entire medical history for them to peruse as I have done, you would see the need for a public option for health insurance. I doubt you could get decent coverage on the private market and I know for sure that Sen. John McCain could not. Have a heart, Sen. Enzi! Put people before corporations.

ERIN O'DOHERTY, Laramie