EDITOR,

Studies show health care costs increased last year at the fastest rate in a half-century.

Health care spending in the U.S. rose to an estimated $2.5 trillion in 2009 — that’s about $8,047 per person and is projected to nearly double by 2019. If we don’t act, this burden will mean more lost jobs, more families pushed into bankruptcy, more preventable deaths and more crushing debt for our nation.

The conclusion is clear: This isn’t a problem we can kick down the road for another decade, or even another year. We need to pass health reform now.

In Washington, D.C., many are saying that we should delay or give up on reform entirely. We need to make it clear that Americans understand the stakes for our economy and our lives, and we want action.

To put a personal note on this subject, I just received my “happy birthday” letter — as I’m moving into a new age category of 55, my insurance is increasing 33 percent. With cost increases every year, the next kickoff will be when I reach 60. Then, it will increase again by 33 percent. Well, there goes my Social Security check that I’ve worked for since I was 16 years of age.

We should count all the insurance that we have paid in a lifetime, plus the money we’ve paid to banks for interest and fees, and now paid to big companies that are too big to fail on Wall Street, which lost our money by making risky investments. 

We need to realize that we citizens built all these entities and this country by our hard work, and we supplied them with our earnings, so that Wall Street and insurance companies could grow and sell our freedoms to the highest bidders. 

We have a very large say in all of this. We need to stop what is going on in Washington, or we, our children and our grandchildren will be enslaved by this governing body of few.  Let’s make Washington speak for the majority and stop all the “made-offs” who are stealing our money.