Published: August 11, 2009 05:13 pm      

LETTERS: Aug. 11, 2009

Reader: Health care reform bill is ‘socialistic’



In reference to the demonstration that took place at Rep. Baron Hill’s office July 28 about encouraging him to vote for Obama’s health care reform bill, I would like to respond to that.

I cannot believe that people would support a bill when they have never seen what the contents are before they support it. Are they so desperate for protection that they would accept any health plan no matter whether it addresses their particular health condition or not?

I received an e-mail containing the suggested proposals of what this bill covers. I could not believe what I was reading about what the bill covers or doesn’t cover. From what I read, it looks like you have little or no choice at all of deciding what you want to do about your own personal health issues. It’s very socialistic for sure. If you want a copy, let me know and I’ll mail you one.

Is this still the same America I remember growing up in 78 years ago?

It looks to me like our constitutional rights are beginning to be violated big time. Nobody should have that happen to them or their loved ones. Are people becoming so naive that they believe the government will take care of them no matter what happens to them?

It’s a shame that those few in Congress that really have concern for our welfare are in the minority. They are usually the ones who are not easily persuaded to “go with the flow.”

However, they also seem to be the ones that never gain a higher office, so that their beliefs will be heard loud and clear and are able to accomplish something meaningful for all of us.

The biggest problem with our health care issues are not truly solved with the passing of health care reform legislation. Our health care problems are bigger than that.

There is only one way you can solve the growing health care problems in America and that is by educating people how to be healthy and stay healthy. There is only one problem with that and it’s this — it won’t ever happen!

Let’s investigate the reasons; if people learned how to be healthier, they would not need a doctor at all or only for limited visits. Also, they wouldn’t need prescription drugs any longer, because they would be knowledgeable enough to manager their own health concerns themselves.

This is the philosophy I live by and I spread that philosophy any way I can, through articles I write and submit to directories, also, in my blog and on my Web site.

It’s working great for my wife and I. I suggest everyone give it a try. It’s fun, rewarding and thoroughly enjoyable.

— Sonny Julius, Jeffersonville





Reader: Why isn’t Hill asking his constituents about health care?



The biggest issue of our time is the health issue, and our elected official Rep. Baron Hill is MIA.

Instead of meeting with the good people of Southern Indiana in town hall meetings, he has chosen to have meetings that are invitation-only roundtable meetings.

This just tells us all that we don’t have a voice with our elected Congressman Hill who supports the health care bill that will be voted on next month! How can Mr. Hill vote on such an important bill as this and not care how we feel on this issue?

I urge everyone to contact Mr. Hill and voice your feeling on this issue and remind him who he works for. This is the first time I have ever written a letter such as this and I am not a thug or troublemaker. I’m an independent voter who is voicing his constitutional right.

— Ken Easterday, Jeffersonville



Reader explains benefits of health care reform



Will everyone, including Southern Indiana columnist Kelly Curran, please calm down and stop spreading rumors and hysteria? You’re scaring the children — and, it appears, their grandparents. As of this writing, no health care reform bill has been passed. There are three proposals in the House of Representatives and the Senate has yet to produce one.

Some people just don’t know when they are being spun and used to maintain a broken and unsustainable system that actually does get between you and your doctor. Do you realize that the private health care industry is spending $1.4 million dollars a day to make you afraid — very afraid — of any change? Even though change is the only way out of this mess?

Just follow that obscene money trail and you will see who benefits from keeping the status quo — and it’s not you, unless you happen to be a health insurance CEO making $20-plus million a year, and then retiring with a $73 million dollar parachute, like Cigna’s CEO. Or, unless your goal is to see President Barack Obama and the Democrats fail, thus making a bad situation much worse for all of us.

News flash! Medicare is a “public plan” with overhead costs of about 3 percent compared to private insurers’ costs of about 20 percent. Most Medicare recipients are happy with it, and they can choose their doctor. (Polls show that the only plan that has higher patient satisfaction is the VA System, which is truly “socialized medicine.”)

If Medicare were extended to include younger, healthier people, the risk would be spread and it would become even more efficient. Of course, Medicare doesn’t pay exorbitant executive salaries. Nor does Medicare underwrite professional golf tournaments and other fancy events to entertain brokers and clients, which are a big part of private insurers’ marketing costs. It may need to increase physician reimbursements somewhat to attract more doctors, but that’s not an insurmountable problem.

Finally, nobody is suggesting euthanasia. (Well, nobody but the far right wingnuts, carrying water for the fearmongering, industry lobbyists.) There is simply a provision in one suggested plan, that Medicare would pay for patient-initiated consultations with physicians, so you can make your own decisions about what kind of end-of-life care you want. This means that if you want to talk to your doctor about making a living will to legally document your choices, Medicare would pay. But that would be your decision. There is no government-subsidized abortion, either. The Hyde Amendment is still the law, and it prohibits government/taxpayer funds for abortions.

So, I hope we can be calm and civil as we gather information — not rumors — about an issue that intimately affects every one of us.

— Ruthanne Wolfe, New Albany