{"id":161339,"date":"2010-01-12T14:35:43","date_gmt":"2010-01-12T19:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2010746752_jobsversushealthcare.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-01-12T14:35:43","modified_gmt":"2010-01-12T19:35:43","slug":"jobs-versus-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/161339","title":{"rendered":"Jobs versus health care"},"content":{"rendered":"

No need to trash entire bill<\/strong><\/p>\n

Editor, The Times:<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s do a reality check here. As The Times continues to pound against the necessity of passing health-care-reform legislation this year [\u201cJobs first, then talk about health reform,\u201d editorial, Opinion, Jan. 8], 45,000 Americans continue to die annually because of lack of access to health care.<\/p>\n

Since those deaths are insufficient to shame you into supporting reform, you bring back the argument that we cannot afford this. Let me remind you that we are currently spending 17 percent of our GNP \u2014 that\u2019s $2.5 trillion per year \u2014 on health care, and without insurance regulations and other cost-saving measures, these numbers will rise to 20 percent of our GNP \u2014 or $4 trillion per year in 2015. Tell me how the businesses you are concerned about will be able to afford to hire new American employees under those circumstances.<\/p>\n

The bill that is being developed is far from perfect, but it\u2019s a start. When you ask Congress to move onto other issues you consider more important, does it matter to you that our duly elected officials have spent the past six months focusing on the issue of health-care reform, fighting to at least start a process to give us universal access, and that all their effort will have been wasted if we do not pass a bill? You know full well further delay will mean another 16 to 20 years before we try again. That\u2019s another million lives lost as the clocks tick on.<\/p>\n

So, instead you should argue appropriately against specific measures in the bill, such as taxing health-care benefits. Push for a tax on the wealthy, as proposed in the House version \u2014 this should not affect job creation. But don\u2019t trash the entire bill and pretend you\u2019re concerned with cost or unemployment.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Lisa C. Plymate, Washington State director of Doctors for America, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

Focus on job creation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Without jobs we can\u2019t pay for health care or pay the taxes that enables government-provided health care.<\/p>\n

Yet at a time when unemployment is near a 60-year high and the federal government is heaping ever more debt on our children, politicians are spending even more and loading even more disincentives on employers to create jobs in this country.<\/p>\n

I completely agree that we need to get our priorities in order. Jobs are the foundation for all other spending. Politicians should be focusing first on providing a healthy environment for job creation.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Chris Waldorf, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

Cessation of war could provide funding instead<\/strong><\/p>\n

Regarding Friday\u2019s editorial on health care, The Times was way off the mark. The current federal health-care legislation may be flawed but this critical issue has been placed on the back burner of American politics for far too long.<\/p>\n

As a result we have a convoluted, costly and \u2014 for many millions of our fellow citizens \u2014 an inaccessible system of care that is ineffective and grossly unfair. The Times suggested that our nation drop the subject of reforming health care. All of the bloated, venal institutions that profit from this ridiculous and wasteful arrangement couldn\u2019t agree more with this misguided opinion.<\/p>\n

The Times was right to argue that the issue of jobs is an exigent one. But this urgent subject should not displace health-care legislation nor any other crying domestic need \u2014 like education, affordable housing for the poor and care for the elderly.<\/p>\n

Instead, the United States could begin addressing all of these matters in a concrete and comprehensive way if we got out of the war business. The lives lost, the profligate trillions spent and the resulting geopolitical chaos may suit the military and corporate masters of war, but it does not in any way suit the common citizenry.<\/p>\n

It is time to dismantle the permanent war economy. Then there will be abundant resources to truly reform health care, provide jobs and worker retraining for the reinvigoration of the American economy \u2014 as well as address other myriad needs.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Joe Martin, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

United doctors for reform<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am appalled that in the same piece The Times editorial board claims to support health-care reform, but also asks Congress to \u201cset the health-care bill aside\u201d until the economy improves.<\/p>\n

I agree that the bill passed by the Senate creates inadequate competition to drive down costs and increase quality. However, setting aside an imperfect bill with the hope of passing a flawless one in the future is extremely unrealistic and leaves us with the economically unsustainable and simply immoral status quo.<\/p>\n

Opportunities to reform our health-care system have come along very rarely and each time have failed due to the same reasoning the editorial board is now endorsing. The passage of reform will mark a philosophical turn for our nation. Future congressional battles over improving health care will not be about whether every American deserves it, but rather over how to deliver it.<\/p>\n

As a physician, I am sad to note that divisions between doctors over how to fix our ailing health-care system have long stood in the way of progress. However, doctors are finally united in our support for health-care reform. I stand with over half a million doctors who implore Congress to pass reform now.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Rupin Thakkar, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No need to trash entire bill Editor, The Times: Let\u2019s do a reality check here. As The Times continues to pound against the necessity of passing health-care-reform legislation this year [\u201cJobs first, then talk about health reform,\u201d editorial, Opinion, Jan. 8], 45,000 Americans continue to die annually because of lack of access to health care. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}