Editor:

Would reading 1,502 pages of gabble on health care from the Senate Finance Committee increase your life expectancy?

We got into this fix back in the 1940s, when federal wage controls led California employers to add a health care benefit to retain/attract workers. Today health care involves a seventh of the national economy.

It will grow larger if the Beltway bloaters have their way.

Any federal approach is guaranteed to increase the number of intermediaries between patient and care provider. If the goal is cost containment and efficiency, why not reduce the clog? If excessive legal costs hamper practitioners, each state, like Texas, has the power to derail the gravy train.

Presidential adviser Rahm Emanuel says, "Never let a serious crisis go to waste." Taxpayers should reject this sick rhetoric, which has no place at public expense.

DAVE RAYNOLDS, Lander