Hey Dean, health care is right of citizenship
Congress has taken a major step in bringing our country out of the dark ages of health care delivery. We are finally on our way to joining the rest of the industrialized world in making health care access a fundamental right of citizenship.
As a physician, I know the long-term effect will be a healthier society. We will save more lives and lower costs because of access to preventive care. I urge all the members of the House who voted against it as well as the members of the Senate who are considering voting against their bill to step back and take a long term view of what will truly benefit our society.
Rep. Dean Heller, please look beyond your next re-election bid and do what is morally right for an enlightened society, as so many other countries have long since done.
Sharon Chabrow
Reno
Let capitalism determine city planning in Carson
If there is one historical artifact in Carson City that is in grave danger of destruction, not mentioning the many buildings with so much character that are needlessly razed for the sake of fear or the need for parking lots, it is our streets.
We seek new life for our city center, yet we work to render it unrecognizable. We dream of the day when business will once again be driven by the pride of personal ownership and self-achievement, but our city planning agencies continue to cater to he who possesses the most corporate capital to invest in trendy flashiness. We demand restriction in how we encroach upon the surrounding environment, and we still will not question why we give the automobile the right of way to every aspect of the design of a modern city.
It should be further noted that this city was founded as an economic transportation hub, and that its governing body, in an attempt to be politically correct, has rendered it obsolete with the building of a labyrinthine freeway to bypass it by way of the once natural wetlands to the east.
The question we have to ask ourselves pertains to whether we need planning agencies at all. My own answer is that we do not, for the construction of a city is how the people build it into its original blueprint, according to the needs of capitalism, and not how its government says it should according to what is cool at the moment.
Sam Flakus
Carson City
U.S. health system inadequate; reform needed
American pride is at stake right now as we sit on the verge of making a historic decision to reform our health care system. The inadequacy of the current system has been well on the minds of my entire family.
This fall we have watched and prayed while my sister-in-law traveled to Instanbul, Turkey, to receive the medical treatment and attention that she was unable to afford here in the U.S. Upon arriving in Turkey, she was offered therapy and treatment for nerve damage that was never even offered by the physicians treating her stateside.
It is appalling that foreign doctors, proudly trained at our own Johns Hopkins University, are able to actually deliver greater options and innovations than their counterparts practicing here.
Last year, my husband traveled to Seattle to have jaw surgery that was excluded by our insurance policy. The cost in Seattle was $7,000, whereas the cost for the exact same procedure at the Carson Tahoe Regional Hospital would have been near $20,000, even with the cash-up-front discount.
I personally believe our country cannot aspire to greatness until comprehensive health insurance reform is enacted. I wish to thank all the representatives who voted for this bill. Their vote demonstrates the courage to finally resist the insurance industry and their lobbyists. It is time for America to claim top-notch medical care and financial stability for everyone, especially during this period of economic hardship and uncertain employment.
Sally Ann Root
Carson City