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The title of Mr. Potter's piece does him no service: "The Health Care Industry vs. Health Reform."

It's not a dichotomous choice. As a former employee of United Health Group, as well as Kaiser Permanente, I know the flaws in the system, as well as how for-profit insurance schemes are susceptible to abuse. However, absent from his post is any idea of how he would reform the current system.

Should we merely transpose a Medicare-like system onto 300 million Americans? Does anyone know how Medicare "balances" its fiscal obligations? By reducing payments to physicians and hospitals.

Succinctly stated, we have a cost problem based on over-utilization because the nexus between the consumer and the payment entity has been broken, which means I can obtain $275 worth of medical services from a visit to a specialist for about $50.

I could try, but I doubt an attorney or CPA would give me the same deal, so why should we expect that from our health insurance system?

Moreover, we don't have insurance for oil changes or tune-ups for our cars, so why do we have it for routine medical visits? How did this Faustian bargain begin?

It goes back to WWII when employers were circumscribed by wage restrictions, so they began providing health insurance to their employees. The rest is a muddled and admittedly imperfect system.

It does need to be reformed, and although the profit incentive must be controlled with oversight, if you excise that entirely, you'll merely have a Medicare-like system that strives on mediocrity. I know, because I live it on a daily basis and it simply doesn't work.