PROP 2: Food (and exercise) for thought

In her turn at My Turn (the Press, April 12), Anne Patterson explains why she didn’t sign the Prop 2 petition. In a nutshell, she and her family never needed expanded Medicaid, which Prop 2 was pushing for, and apparently she can’t see why anyone would need it if they’d simply do as she and her family does. Just eat well, get regular excercise, etc. and most importantly make sure to avoid “detrimental habits.”

Given a chance to reconsider, Anne Patterson might see it differently. Well-laid plans and good habits are important, of course, and the Pattersons are to be commended for that. But the best of plans and habits guarantee us nothing. Accidents and illness have a way of striking without warning or favor to anyone and, too often, with long term effects. It’s for that reason our government must always play some part in our health care system, a system otherwise dominated inexcusably by for-profit coporate interests.

DEL CAMERON

Coeur d’Alene