Seals backers keep health care costs up

On his Web site Dan Seals says: "it is unconscionable that the world's richest nation allows so many people to go without health insurance." If Mr. Seals truly believes that, then why has he taken $10,000 (the maximum legal contribution) from the group most responsible for keeping affordable health care out of the hands of millions of Americans: the trial lawyers lobby?

Dan Seals is right when he says that health care is too expensive, and that too many people lack it. But it isn't due to some nefarious plot on the part of insurance companies; it's because of out-of-control lawsuits and the lawyers who profit from them.

It's because of frivolous lawsuits that doctors order multiple, and expensive, tests on patients. They know what's wrong, they know how to treat it, but they have to order those tests so they can defend themselves against future lawsuits. Out-of-control medical malpractice lawsuits in Illinois make insuring a doctor here many times more expensive than insuring a doctor in Wisconsin or Indiana. The doctors who aren't driven out of the state due to high malpractice insurance costs need to raise their prices, which causes insurance company to raise their premiums. So who pays? We do. Every time you hear about someone winning $3 million for a hang nail, part of that $3 million is coming right out of your pocket.

Higher insurance premiums mean fewer people afford health insurance, and fewer companies can provide it for their employees. If Dan Seals was serious about getting all Americans affordable health are then he would be attacking the trial lawyers, not taking payoffs from them.

Anatoly Arber Highland Park