Kudos to Armstrong Williams for calling attention to the role of political party unity in leading us down the wrong path (“The unity among political parties is more worrisome than the divisions,” Feb 2).  As pointed out by Mr. Williams, what has the U.S. really gained from the trillions of dollars spent and tens of thousands of lives lost in wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam promoted by the military-industrial-security complex?

One could make the same case for the so-called medical-industrial complex, joining the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry, device manufacturers, large health care systems and health care insurers, supported, in 2022, by over $700 million in health care lobbying.

The U.S. spends about 18% of its gross domestic product on health care, twice the percent spent in other high-income countries. But despite this accelerated spending, we have worse overall health outcomes.

As pointed out by Mr. Williams, unity among our political parties has led to trillions spent on wars without victories, and now we have out-of-control health care spending without return on investment. To rein in out-of-control spending, Congress urgently needs to find a way to diminish the influence of lobbyists.

— Beryl Rosenstein, Pikesville