Speak Out 8/11/09

Maximizing profits

REGARDING remarks by Dennis Matheis, president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield: Blue Cross started out as a not-for-profit organization providing medical coverage to anyone regardless of pre-existing condition, and people were not dumped from coverage after becoming ill. Today, the primary objective of most giant insurance companies is to maximize profits. Much of the companies' earnings go to overhead including huge salaries and bonuses. Mr. Matheis, please explain why, if a public option is so bad, Medicare outperforms your company and will cover people over 65 years old your company won't touch. You speak for an industry that is based on greed. What your industry really fears is a public option that would force them to do something they currently don't have to do: compete in a fair market.

Hard water

I am a resident of the water supply district in Pocahontas, Mo., and have every right to complain. We had the water tested, and it was found to have 11 different minerals and other deposits. Although none were toxic, the water is so hard all appliances are ruined in a short time. All the water fixtures in our home are quickly stoked up with calcium. It is a well-known medical fact that drinking hard water like this will cause stomach problems over a period of time. We can't afford a $1,500 water softener. The water supply district needs to update its plant for better quality water. Residents of Fruitland are starting a petition for action to be taken. They are fed up.

Too old for care

PEOPLE with any family history of cancer, heart trouble or diabetes better shout from the rooftops against the government takeover of our health care. If you have any of these problems and others after age 65, you will be told to get with hospice because you are too old to contribute to the government, so it can't spend health-care dollars on you.

Orientation concern

ONE of the main objectives of back-to-school orientation is to find out who your child's homeroom teacher is. Central Middle School's orientation was Thursday and Friday. On Friday afternoon when we went, we were told that the assignments would be posted Monday. For all those who took off work for the orientation, it was a wasted effort. I hope the school will address the failures that led to this and offer some explanation. This is not a good way to start the school year.

It's health care

I'VE been in the VA health-care system for almost 20 years. There have been a few errors and some unreasonably difficult paperwork and processes. But it is health care that I wouldn't have without that government-run system. Health insurance is too expensive. Brain tumors are expensive to treat. An MRI costs thousands of dollars. I've had 23 of them in the past two and a half years, plus two CT Scans and a seemingly endless list of other tests and scans. My chemotherapy medication cost $750 per pill, with pills a week for four weeks. The more recent round was double the dose of the same medicine. How much do all of the maintenance medication, the wheelchair and the occasional extended stays in the VA hospital cost? Would I want to expose my wife and kids to that health care? No. But if that's all we can do, then we will do that. To fix the health-care system, look long-term. Make education affordable, and teach kids instead of just testing them. Clear the way for our pharmacies to negotiate with other out-of-country suppliers. Make competition the functioning backbone of our health care. Teaching kids early and often in school about good health would make an enormous difference in the cost of any health program.

Donate vehicles

NOW that President Obama has signed off on more cash, will you trade in your clunker? I would like to have a different car. I would like to be able to travel farther than 20 miles to find a job. Car dealers should be allowed to donate a vehicle. I would be interested in trading in my clunker for a donated vehicle.

Mastering the lingo

I enjoyed Joe Sullivan's column about driving detours in Cape, especially during August. His description of how Southeast Missouri State University parents could use traffic delays as a chance to bond with college-bound progeny and practice "Anglo-Saxon foreign language," otherwise known as "cursing," reminded me of my days as a college student. At the end of my first year of language study, the professor explained that until a person could curse and tell jokes in the new language, you really didn't have a firm grasp of the material. Thus, he taught all of us some of the foulest words I have ever known. Thirty years later, I don't remember much of what I learned in college. But whenever caught in long traffic delays or cut off by a maniac driver, you should hear my Russian. I'm sure my old professor would think I speak just like a native. Thanks, Joe, for keeping us laughing.

Just wait

REGARDLESS of the rhetoric against U.S. health-care changes, the ruling party is going to do whatever it pleases. As voters, we have our chance every two years. That's it. That is a republic. The politicians believe we will forget what they are doing by the time elections come up. I can't wait to pay through the nose for my employers "Obamacare" private plan. I can't wait to have free health care. I can't wait to have tobacco, liquor and hot dogs outlawed. I can't wait to see more industries flee the U.S. Life will be good then.

Research profit

EVERYONE better not forget that if the current health-care system is replaced by a government system, there won't be any promise of profit for research on cures and treatments. If you take it away the chance of profit, research will stop. It already is slowing down with the fear of a government takeover.