Doctor Orders Medical Savings Accounts

Re “Choose: Freedom or Health Coverage,� Voices, July 28: Socialized medicine will not solve Dorrit Ragosine’s problem of obtaining care but worsen it. She does not want insurance. She wants prepaid health care for an ongoing problem. Insurance is what eases the pain when your home burns down. Insurance is for catastrophes, not ongoing maintenance and fix-ups.

Ragosine’s frustrations and budget problems would have been well covered by an independent, tax-free medical savings account. From this she would have been able to purchase all the care she wanted. Moreover, with the buying power of a medical savings account, she could negotiate prices with her doctors and hospitals.

My charity work in the Third World has led to one inescapable conclusion: No government can tax its people enough to provide a decent, workable health care system. The only solution is individual savings backed by catastrophic insurance. The poor will be with us always, and yes, they will need charity care.

Christopher Lyon MD

Newport Beach