Last friday, the Omaha World-Herald printed the following letter I wrote in its Public Pulse section:

Universal health care = liberty

The time has come for the United States to join the modern world by adopting a universal health insurance system similar to Canada’s single-payer system. Those who say that this type of system will curtail our freedoms have it backward.

Many children and adults in the United States now face a lifetime of poverty and government dependence solely because the price of their needed medication is over­whelming. Right now, health care is rationed in the United States, based upon economic status. Thousands die every year because they cannot afford health insurance. How free are they?

The ridiculous cost of health care in America is hurting the competitiveness of our businesses in the global market. It is crushing the entrepreneurial spirit of our citizens, causing needless deaths and mak­ing it impossible for people to lead produc­tive lives. Drastic change is needed.

Donald Kuhns, Omaha

As if to prove one of my points, the World-Herald on Tuesday printed an astounding article describing health care rationing right here in Omaha on its front page.

“We can't provide (care) fast enough,” said Skolkin, CEO of OneWorld Community Health Centers.

Patient counts continue to increase at federally funded health centers in Nebraska and Iowa, which primarily serve the uninsured and low- to moderate-income people with insurance.

Although there are signs that the economy is recovering, clinics in the region say the gains have not caught up to patients who lost jobs and health coverage during the recession.

Each month, OneWorld turns away more than 250 people seeking first-time appointments, up from 50 per month two years ago. The health center tells them to call back in several weeks. Patient volume is so high that keeping a waiting list is impractical.

Such patients at the Council Bluffs Community Health Center wait a month to get in for an appointment, twice as long as a few years ago.

New patients without insurance are waiting six to eight weeks for appointments at the People's Health Center in Lincoln. Waits most likely will increase this year, said Deb Shoemaker, the center's executive director. (Waits are shorter for those with private insurance because slots for those patients don't fill up as fast.)

But don't you dare call it rationing.  This is America.