{"id":490778,"date":"2010-03-30T15:46:45","date_gmt":"2010-03-30T19:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011479359_wherehealthcarereformisheaded.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-03-30T15:46:45","modified_gmt":"2010-03-30T19:46:45","slug":"where-health-care-reform-is-headed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/490778","title":{"rendered":"Where health-care reform is headed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Undertone to tea-party leaders\u2019 health-care message<\/strong><\/p>\n

I concur with columnist Jerry Large that fulminating opponents of the recently passed health-care overhaul are about something more than disgruntlement. [\u201cSickly response to health care,\u201d NWMonday, March 29.]<\/p>\n

There is a nasty and dangerous undertone to what is going on here. Though so-called tea-party leaders have gone to great pains to distance themselves from those who shouted racist words at some black members of Congress, there can be no denying overt and covert racism are at play in the generalized virulence expressed.<\/p>\n

Many individuals in this overwhelmingly white reactionary movement simply cannot stand that we have our first black president. Other citizens who are angry and confused about real problems such as unemployment and underemployment have been co-opted by the hate mongers of the Rabid Right.<\/p>\n

Large mentions the malicious hate blogger Mike Vanderboegh, who urged on the vandalism that occurred in the wake of the health-care vote. Ironically, Vanderboegh is living off a government program and receives a monthly Social Security disability check. There are many others screaming about health-care reform who are beneficiaries of Social Security and Medicare. At one time, these programs were castigated as experiments in \u201csocialism\u201d that would destroy the country.<\/p>\n

One can only hope that if ever a critical mass of tea-party members takes a moment to honestly look at history and reality, maybe they will start critiquing that area of government where waste and profligacy is thoroughly ingrained: the Pentagon.<\/p>\n

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

A look at the good side of insurance for everyone<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t understand the opposition to health-care reform. I have been firmly behind it since it was first discussed, but like to consider myself at least somewhat open-minded and would appreciate it if someone could explain to me what is worthy of so much anger and distaste.<\/p>\n

My 25-year-old, college graduate sister has a pre-existing liver condition. She is a social worker and cannot afford regular screenings (even with insurance). Now she can be free to seek a better-paying job without fearing the insurance from her new job will deny her coverage due to her pre-existing condition.<\/p>\n

My mother owns a small business with fewer than 10 employees. She provides health insurance. Under new regulations, she could receive tax credits for doing so or could stop providing coverage for her employees. They now have the opportunity to buy affordable, good health coverage from an insurance agency.<\/p>\n

My brother\u2019s second son underwent open-heart surgery when he was 2 months old for a congenital heart defect. Doctors said he will likely need another open-heart surgery. He can rest assured that should he lose or change his job, he will not lose health coverage for his son. <\/span><\/p>\n

I doubt that this bill will do much initially to stem the soaring costs of health care. However, step one in controlling those costs is making everybody care about them, including young, healthy, currently uninsured individuals and insurance companies that can no longer weed out the costly sick people.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Dan Pierce, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

What if Reichert didn\u2019t have insurance?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was nice to read Rep. Dave Reichert is recovering in a Washington, D.C., hospital after a head bump caused a slow leak of blood on his brain [\u201cRep. Reichert in D.C. hospital for treatment,\u201d NWThursday, March 25]. Hopefully he will spend a few minutes during recovery pondering what would have happened if he didn\u2019t have health insurance.<\/p>\n

Brain surgery isn\u2019t cheap. Would he have gone into extreme debt to pay for his medical treatment? Would the hospital have treated his injury if he couldn\u2019t pay? If so, who would be footing the bill? Maybe he wouldn\u2019t have gotten medical treatment.<\/p>\n

A 2009 Harvard study published in the American Journal of Public Health found more than 44,800 excess deaths annually in the United States due to Americans lacking health insurance.<\/p>\n

Perhaps when Rep. Reichert\u2019s fellow Republicans are talking about \u201cArmageddon\u201d and \u201cCommunism\u201d because the United States is finally passing a comprehensive health-care bill, he will have a different perspective.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Maggie Hart, Lake Forest Park<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

GOP needs to sip and sink<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am sick of Sarah Palin, this self-annointed leader of the tea-party movement. Ms. Alaska Disaster is so high on her sweet self, she apparently adds sacks of sugar to her teacup.<\/p>\n

This electrified, short-circuit cattle prod has goosed her tea-party herd into a hydrophobic, foaming frenzy. Caught in her virus, they\u2019re running roughshod over anything standing in the way, be it opponent, placard, picket, president and even old sage John McCain as they stampede up Heartbreak Hill and on up to Lover\u2019s Leap, where in the rush and the crush they\u2019ll carry out and over Palin\u2019s presidential delusion and drop to the rocks.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Noel Freedman, Stanwood<\/em><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Undertone to tea-party leaders\u2019 health-care message I concur with columnist Jerry Large that fulminating opponents of the recently passed health-care overhaul are about something more than disgruntlement. [\u201cSickly response to health care,\u201d NWMonday, March 29.] There is a nasty and dangerous undertone to what is going on here. Though so-called tea-party leaders have gone to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-490778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490778","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\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}