Free debate is important and valued in our
democracy. So I commend Jim Sidebottom for his participation via
his Dec. 30 letter to the editor. Here is my evaluation of his
main points.
First, he opined that tenuring of college
professors amounts to a lifetime appointment. He then proceeds
to contradict himself pointing out that the University of
Colorado has used a codified evaluative process to revoke the
tenure of Ward Churchill. My observations as a college professor
for 31 years, now retired, informed me that the intent of tenure
(to allow free expression of ideas and facts) works and, when it
is rarely abused, it can be and is revoked in spite of the cost.
Second, he focuses on what he calls
"socialized health care." He asserts, without any documentation,
that there are "millions of dollars in fraud and overbilling" in
Medicare as if the for-profit health-insurance industry is not
also subject to fraud and overbilling.
Third, he stated Business Week (no
specific date given) reported that the overhead cost of private
health insurance is merely 11 percent. In contrast, a study
reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in August 2003
showed that, in the United States, 31 percent of health-care
money goes to administrative costs (including those of insurance
companies but also of health-care and equipment providers that
have to deal with thousands of insurance companies). This amount
is considerably less in all countries having a single-payer
system. (See
www.healthcareforallcolorado.org/?p1 for additional
documented facts and figures).
Bill Moorcroft,
Fort Collins