Letter: Health law's flawed

I am sorry to hear that a member of the Newsday editorial board considers a debate that went before the U.S. Supreme Court to be a "theological" discourse ["Go ahead and declare Obamacare dead," Opinion, April 2]. I guess if the liberal wing were in the majority, there would be no such complaint.

Maybe if the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act were a better written piece of legislation and not the ugly, compromised one as described by columnist Daniel Akst, it would have broader support, not that of just 36 percent of Americans who approve of all provisions, and would possibly do something constructive for our health care delivery system. Hopefully, Akst was being tongue-in-cheek when he described Medicare as highly efficient.

I agree that there are many shortcomings in health care financing as well as coverage. Part of that is the fractured attempts of government in terms of regulation. Maybe it is time to allow insurance carriers to compete across state lines and to reverse the for-profit status granted to several of these large, formerly nonprofit carriers that was all too willingly facilitated by state officials to swell the government coffers.

Even more important, it is time for the American public to assume some liability in terms of lifestyle choices.

Dr. Thomas J. Dowling, Commack

Editor's note: The writer is an orthopedic surgeon.