As a practicing physician for more than 40 years, I read with interest Scott Carroll's commentary regarding health care reform ("Bring back the public health option," Dec. 12).

In it he states, "The major arguments against a public health option are: quality of care ... waste … and the American way of life." He omitted the key impediment to true health care reform in America.

On Jan. 17, 1961, outgoing President Dwight Eisenhower famously delivered his farewell address. In it he warned, "We must guard against the acquisition of unwanted influence, whether sought or not sought, by the military-industrial complex." True health care reform in American, such as a public health option, will not occur because of the unwanted influence of the medical-insurance complex.

In America today, the payers and providers control the health care system to the detriment of the patients. Health insurance company CEOs are earning tens of millions of dollars annually while denying patients access to care. They are pretty happy with the status quo and will vigorously resist efforts to change the system for the benefit of the patients. That's why there has been so much opposition to Obamacare, a first step in providing access to health care for all Americans and controlling health care costs.

Dr. Leon Reinstein, Baltimore