Government plan will become the monopoly

Chris Johnston of Champaign wrote that if the government health care mandate was not passed Republicans would be responsible for an insurance company monopoly. That is wrong.

If the government takes over health care it will become a monopoly owned and controlled by the government. If the government owns and controls health care, people will not be allowed to opt out, as we can with a privately owned insurance company that displeases us.

The privately owned insurance companies would be out of business, but their other insurance policies – life, auto, home – would cost more because they will have to make up the money the government stole from them.

Government control over any portion of our lives is never good. Government officials already think of ordinary people as their subjects, not their employers.

Check out all information on the health insurance takeover issue before signing on, and ask yourself why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her supporters won't let people read their legislation before they push for the vote. What are they hiding?

LONNA BERTELLI

Westville