Mr. Paulson (Muscatine Journal, Sept. 5), some facts …

First of all, I have no stake in this issue — and I am a member of a non-bargaining group. That means I pay 7 percent of my health insurance premium. Union members, such as teachers, pay only $25 per month — for the same coverage.

Cost for administration will go up, since levels of governmental involvement will increase with a series of committees and other groups — paid for their services.

Also overlooked is the fact that there are four types of plans — with only the highest level (therefore, the most expensive) including dental and vision coverage.

Abortion statistics show the majority are unrelated to reproductive health care. Many abortions have nothing to do with health issues, but are based on economics — according to the Centers for Disease Control and the Guttmacher Institute, neither of which could be called pro-life.

In an AP article, “As US tackles health care reform, some Europeans warn against too much government control,” which was posted on the Web at 5:03 p.m. on Saturday, July 4, Philip Stevens said: “Government control of health care is not a panacea … The U.S. health system is a bit of a mess, but based on what’s happened in some countries in Europe, I’d be nervous about recommending more government involvement.”

The World Health Organization report quoted by Mr. Paulson states, “France had the world’s best health system. But … health budgets have been in the red since 1988. In 1996, France introduced targets for health insurance spending … a decade later, the deficit had doubled to 49 billion Euros ($69 billion.)”

There are avoidable causes for the lower life expectancy, according to that same report. It states: “In the United States, some groups, such as Native Americans, rural African Americans and the inner city poor, have extremely poor health, more characteristic of a poor developing country rather than a rich industrialized one.

“The HIV epidemic causes a higher proportion of death and disability to U.S. young and middle-aged than in most other advanced countries … The U.S. is a leading country for cancers relating to tobacco, especially lung cancer.

“A high coronary heart disease rate … dropped recently but is still high; …high levels of violence, especially of homicides, when compared to other industrial countries.”

A total of 18,000 premature deaths in the U.S. is a sad number. So is the following, “More serious problems in Britain’s health care were reported last month, when cancer researchers announced that as many as 15,000 people over age 75 were dying prematurely from cancer every year. Experts said those deaths could have been avoided if those patients had been diagnosed and treated earlier.”

These are indisputable facts, showing a governmental health plan is not the answer, either.

Lift federal restrictions so we increase the risk-sharing pool from 3 million to 316 million. Allow cafeteria plans, giving the choice for what I want included for coverage. Each of these is a better option than governmental involvement.

I do believe in an honest debate, but let’s have the honesty from both sides.

Rudy Schellekens lives in Muscatine.