EDDIE KONCZAL, Published in The Courier-News on August 2, 2005

Residents of New Jersey know all too well about the astronomical cost of health care. Those who aren't lucky enough to get health care through their jobs often pay outrageously high premiums for personal health plans. Those who cannot afford individual health insurance must rely on emergency room visits to get urgently needed medical care, and subsequently find themselves buried under debt incurred from uncovered medical care.

Fortunately, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan has a plan to address the rising cost of health care. Conyers has introduced H.R. 676, which would give every American citizen access to affordable health care, through a single-payer universal health-care system based on Medicare.

Medicare has worked successfully and efficiently over the years. Medicare's overhead costs are less than 2 percent -- compared with 10 percent or more for private health plans. Single-payer universal health care will allow every American to benefit from the efficiency of the Medicare system. Single-payer universal health care will not socialize our health care system, but it will greatly reduce the amount that Americans now spend on health-care costs.

I urge all New Jerseyans concerned about health-care costs to ask their representatives in Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 676.