In response to Garrison Keillor's Jan. 27 commentary ("Don't knock elitism; it could save your life"): What a childish pout we have here, in explaining the Republican plan for health care as "let them die."

I sincerely believe that the Democrats' proposed health care plan will cut nearly $500 billion from Medicare because that has been promised. That will most assuredly let someone die.

I recently saw my first "comparative effectiveness" study. I was shocked to see the conclusion that Zocor would be preferred over Lipitor because the additional heart attacks with Zocor didn't cause so much lost work time as to cover the cost of the Lipitor! And this won't even scratch the surface when you talk about cutting $500 billion. There has been no honest explanation of how to cut this much funding without rationing care. Now I see why.

Bruce R McCurdy