Congress going about reform bill in all the wrong ways
It has been depressing to follow the progress of the health-care bill as it makes its way through Congress [“Congress moving to close Medicare’s ‘doughnut hole,’ ” News, Dec. 29].
The House of Representatives passed a tolerable bill, but the Senate has passed a very weak bill that sent the stock of the medical insurance companies and the big pharmaceutical companies soaring, which means bad news for the rest of us.
Unless the final bill includes a government-run public option, the insurance companies will not have to offer competitively priced policies, but the public will be forced to purchase those unfairly priced policies whether it wishes to, or not.
What is the value of that?
To those who doubt the ability of the government to provide good insurance policies, I would suggest that this is merely an option. Anyone wishing to shop elsewhere would be able to do so.
Other requirements of good health-care legislation would include: subsidies to enable all Americans to be able to purchase medical insurance at affordable prices; coverage for women’s reproductive health care; apply antitrust legislation to insurance companies, and paying for health-care reform by taxing the wealthy, thereby helping to decrease the gap between the super wealthy and the super poor.
— Ken Rasmussen, Bow
Remembering ‘forever families’ during the holidays
Opening your hearts to children
I really enjoyed the guest commentary by Nicole Sanchez, and agree wholeheartedly with her [“Every child deserves a forever family,” Opinion, Dec. 22].
I happen to have an adopted son, who was about 19 months old when we brought him to our home permanently about a week before Christmas. It has been a mutual blessing for us over the years.
Our family has always been grateful to be his “forever family.”
Thanks so much for the commentary by Sanchez. I hope many other families will open their hearts, and give a child a forever family, something each child deserves.
— Mary Bartholet, Shoreline