When it comes to moral arguments regarding the administration's proposal for health care, Limbaugh conservatives focus on two things they don't like: the inclusion of Planned Parenthood, which means to them easy access to abortions, and the alleged preference for and acceptance of socialism on the part of the administration and its supporters.

Meanwhile, the Heritage Foundation - supposedly more moderate - is embroiled in the minutiae of number-crunching to show that Obama's plans are neither cost effective nor sustainable.

What both kinds of conservatives don't talk about is the moral issue surrounding the plight of millions of Americans who either lack health insurance altogether or who are on the brink of losing theirs because of job loss, home loss or being denied treatment due to a "pre-existing condition."

This is not to mention the billions spent by the insurance industry on negative advertising - using scare tactics and lies to oppose health reform of any kind. If only a smidgeon of that money were used to help those without insurance.

So, the United States, which refuses to insure 45 percent of its populace, has the highest number of gun deaths of any industrialized country in the world and boasts about having the least amount of regulation regarding such things as oil exploration and global warning, has been led to believe that government-run health care is tantamount to socialism.

The mere suggestion of emulating countries like Sweden or Canada, both of whom have successful health-care systems, is dismissed out of hand. They're too socialistic!

Jack A. Hobbs

Bloomington