Government takeover of health care

From: Kathleen Motzko, Franklin Township

We do not have a crisis in health care in this country; we have a crisis in the rising cost of health care. When I hear a statistic like “our country ranks 37th in the world in health care,” I immediately question the validity of such a number.

After doing a little checking, I found that this “statistic” comes from the World Health Organization (which should automatically make it suspect), and according to the CATO Institute the data was collected from various private agencies and governments and was subject to wide disparities in definitions, reporting techniques, and collection methodologies.

And for the many nations that don’t keep statistics, the who “developed” the data for them. Hmmmmm. And furthermore, they statistically eliminate the resources spent on disabilities and aging, thus creating a theoretical “adjusted life expectancy.”

Are you starting to feel a little statistically manipulated? Do you honestly believe that countries like Canada, the UK, Saudi Arabia, and Columbia have better health care systems?

I could go on, but let’s get back to the cost issue. The reasons for the rapidly rising costs are manyfold, and we must push our state and federal legislators to address these problems. We must not sweep them under the rug as the Democrats are attempting to do and just redesign a new system to their utopian vision of how health care should work.

They do not want to reform health care, they want government to take over health care. I do not trust the ability of Congress to design a new system, nor do I see any attempt to fix any of the problems or implement industry reforms such as the following:

• Reforming the legal system to eliminate frivolous and abusive lawsuits that clog our legal system. Litigation forces doctors, medical device manufacturers, and pharmaceutical companies to spend millions on liability insurance each year.

Fear of lawsuits also compels doctors and hospitals to aggressive treatments, unneeded testing, and over-reliance on specialists. Why not create a “loser pay” system for legal costs?

• eliminating the waste, fraud and abuse that runs rampant in existing government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, the VA, and SSI.

Private insurers supplement these public programs and we’re all paying the price.

• deregulating the insurance industry to allow competition across state lines. Competition and larger pools of insured will drive down premiums.

• establishing private Health Savings Accounts with tax benefits and rollovers from year to year. This will help level the playing field for the self-employed or those not covered by their employers.

• ensuring tax-funded government benefits go only to US citizens (and not the 9 million non-citizens, mostly illegal immigrants, that are included in the estimated 47 million “uninsured”).

• demand accountability from patients and providers. Providers should establish rates and treatments up front, and not massage them according to what type of insurance plan we have. We need simplicity and transparency in billing so people can shop for the best deal.

Likewise, patients must be responsible for their lifestyles and premiums should reflect that. After all, car insurance premiums reflect your driving record and life insurance reflects health history.

• protecting the right to choose the type of insurance, if any at all.

Roughly 43 percent of the “uninsured” do so by choice and not because it’s unaffordable for them. Nine million earn over $75,000 per year and 11 million decline employer coverage. They choose to spend their money on other things.

The current House Bill HR 3200 will force them to enroll in the government plan. Private individual insurance will be illegal for those not already enrolled. That’s right. Illegal. And if you are enrolled in a private plan and need to change, you must select from a government “qualified” plan. So much for “freedom of choice.”

If our health care system is in such dire straits, why do 70 percent of Americans rate their health care coverage as good or excellent (Rasmussen May 2009)? It’s because we don’t have a health care quality crisis, we have a health insurance cost crisis.

Our country has world-class quality of health care at all income levels. However, the costs of that care and of the insurance coverage is out of control due to some systemic flaws that don’t require trillions of dollars to fix. If we don’t fix these problems, no amount of money the feds throw into a new plan will give us a better system, but it will most likely destroy it. It will ultimately ruin our economy and our country.

The president and the Democrats don’t want to fix these problems, they just want “Change We Can Believe In.” Give me a break.

Media and positive role models

From: Glenn Gruenhagen, Glencoe

I empathize with families who lose a loved one, whether a celebrity or not, such as in the case of the tragic death of Michael Jackson. However, it is a sad day when the media glorifies an individual whose life promoted sexual perversions and music filled with filthy lyrics along with bizarre and erratic personal behavior such as drug abuse and accusations of pedophilia, etc. (which resulted in financial settlements to parents amounting to millions of dollars. Is this the kind of role model our children should have?

One could conclude that the majority of our left wing liberal media suffers from a serious lack of morals, ethics and character with a total disregard for the welfare of our nation’s children.

It seems that much of our once great news media has become a “shallow, tabloid entertainment media” filled with censorship, lies and deceit. The liberal news media also seems to totally ignore the actions of true American heroes.

I recently read the inspiring story of Marine Mitchell Paige, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, our nation’s most prestigious military honor. On Oct. 26, 1942 in the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands after all the other Marines in his platoon were killed or wounded, Paige operated four machine guns for several hours and single-handedly stopped an entire Japanese regiment. Had that position fallen and the Japanese regained the airfields taken by the Marines, the outcome of the battle may have been significantly changed.

In the years to come, Mitchell Paige was repeatedly asked why he would be willing to put his life on the line for his country.

He said that the answers took him back to a Pennsylvania three room country school where the children were so steeped in the traditions of America that they literally felt themselves a part of a glorious heritage – where that teacher opened the school day with a Bible verse and the Pledge of Allegiance and where they memorized all the great documents that established the bedrock of America, such as the Gettysburg Address etc.

I wonder if the liberal media and our schools would promote role models such as Marine Mitchell Paige and his life experience and sacrifices, perhaps the scourge of illegal drug use, promiscuity and STDs along with a general lack of respect for US history and our military, which afflicts many of our young people, would be greatly diminished? The timeless saying “garbage in, garbage out” still seems to hold true.

As responsible citizens, let us try to encourage local businesses to eliminate some of the music, books and videos that promote immoral sewage and garbage to our young people. As a public school board member, I will continue to support the teaching of US history and patriotism, which brings peace and unity among people with diverse background in our schools.

I will continue to oppose the divisive and un-American education philosophy known as multiculturalism and diversity, which promotes racism, hatred, bigotry and violence in our schools and on college campuses. An excellent resource which documents this subject is a book titled “Illiberal Education” authored by Dinesh D’Souza, a recent immigrant and former Bush administration official.

In close, let me quickly add that many of our teachers and administrators are patriotic and try to instill the founding principles of US history and patriotism in our children.

Unfortunately the education bureaucracy such as the US Department of Education, the Minnesota Department of Education, the National Education Association and the Minnesota Education Association continue to support flushing educational sewage into our schools and colleges using your tax dollars.

Almost all the Democratic politicians, and even some in the Republican Party, support this education nonsense and stupidity, including both Minnesota US senators. The most recent being Senator Al Franken.

Now is the time for good men to redouble their efforts to prevent more damage and restore positive role models to our nation’s children.

Traffic control a big waste of money

From: Ken Tobeck, Watertown

I had hoped that I had ended my hobby, and stress outlet, of writing letters. However, I am here again, unable to remain silent whenever something does not seem to be equal to all men, whatever it is, right or wrong.

On my way to an appointment with my skin cancer doctor Friday, July 9 of this year, I had an encounter with a young traffic enforcement officer. I shall remember it not because he was abusive, impolite, or threatening, but because he was wrong.

He did not ticket me, but gave me a warning. His contention was I had swerved over the center line. I did not, nor did I even drive, on the center line.

I have had two traffic tickets in my life – oops, sorry, three. One when I was young and dumb, one on an emergency call to a telephone customer, and where I was just plain stupid.

I was rude, abusive and in response to his statement he was only doing his job, and told him he and none of the other officers doing traffic control are doing their jobs.

Where is this young officer and his counterparts when:

• drivers pass me doing the legal limit (you have to speed to do that);

• drivers pass me in a no passing zone;

• drivers do not signal their turns;

• drivers do not have lights on in poor light, rain or during snow storms;

• drivers tailgate you;

• drivers do not stop, or end up doing rolling stops, at areas requiring such, as dictated by common sense, which few drivers possess nowadays;

• and drivers drive at least 50 mph in a 35 mph zone. I live on Highway 25 in Watertown, within three blocks nearby are two nursing homes and two low-income rental apartments, which normally include many low-income elderly

I would like to have my mail delivered to me right across Highway 25, but I will not risk crossing that highway in a senior moment and get killed. I am 77. People pull onto Highway 25 on both sizes of me all the time without stopping.

I believe 90 percent of those drivers out there should not have a license.

Now, back to our law enforcement people doing traffic control – a big waste of money, time, and endangerment to these dedicated men.

I do not want to pay the wages of the necessary people needed to control all the idiots out there. I don’t want to pay for the traffic control signs that no one pays any attention to.

It is time to saturate our highways with traffic cameras, and insure we have judges that will uphold the laws. It would be cheaper than more traffic control people.

I don’t believe that anything less than a good hit to the pocket book will educate this lawless age we live in.

Was this officer short on stops? I wonder if he saw I was elderly and would be easy picking. Do we have a subtle, but pervasive, prejudice building against the elderly because of the job market? Because of having to wait for old people? Because of the medical insurance?

Time to pass public option is now

From: John Norman, Buffalo

It is hard to understand what is holding up the new public health care option when a majority of our citizens want it. They feel that health care costs are rising too fast and need to be controlled. The public option is the best vehicle to put downward pressure on these rising costs.

Because of the influence of the private health insurance and prescription drug companies almost all Republican legislators oppose it. Many former legislators are drawing big salaries from these health insurance and drug companies to lobby Congress in their opposition to these health care improvements. The opponents are spending $1.4 million per day to fight the public option as they know it will create a true free market competition for the health care coverage each family needs.

By “cherry picking” their insured customers and not accepting any preexisting conditions, the private insurers can create a very healthy constituency to maximize their profits. You can tell that these private insurance and drug companies are seriously threatened by the overwhelming coordinated opposition to President Obama’s proposal of a public option.

The Democrats should not compromise on this public option as the Republicans will oppose any of President Barack Obama’s plans to improve health care delivery and the attendant reduction in costs.

The time to pass this public option is now as we have the political majority in both the House and Senate and President Barack Obama can sign it into law.

If you are in favor of the public option, now is the time to act by contacting your representatives in Congress to support this change. This opportunity may never come again.