Letters to the Editor April 21

Grateful for guaranteed health care coverage

I am grateful to everyone who worked doggedly to pass health care reform. I know too many people whose health insurance was denied once their illness became too expensive. Good friends have died. That can never happen again, because of this legislation.

My son was denied health insurance for his asthma when he was young; any mother who has faced the panic of their child's asthma attack knows how wrong it is when you also have to worry about paying for it. That can never happen again.

For all the misinformation and lies spread to stop this bill from passing, I am confident Americans will love the changes. They will then recognize the lies for what they were. So thank you, everyone who was brave enough to help pass this bill.

Pamela Camille

Zephyr Cove

This 20-something willing to pay for insurance

I support universal health care. Health care is a right and not a privilege. Yes, health care reform falls far short of universal health care, but it is a great first step.

Republicans, conservatives and other right-wing ideologues failed to argue against reform. Now, they continue to spread hate, fear and bigotry, and tout them as core values. They call health reform socialism, yet they clearly do not know what socialism is. This ignorance is dangerous. It is time for the media to be responsible and start pointing out these fallacies.

I support Harry Reid for Senate. He has proven himself worthy of another term as senator. His opponents on the right are attacking him using the aforementioned vitriol. The rhetoric alone is enough to disqualify them as capable leadership.

The Tea Party and their supporters need to develop a sane platform or go back to the 1950s. No discourse is possible until they act rationally.

I represent one of the 20-somethings that must now purchase health insurance. My employer does not provide me with insurance. I welcome this burden of purchasing health care. I know that the options reform provides me will allow me to find an affordable plan. I will no longer worry about getting sick. I do not see how providing care to others is a bad thing, especially when it lowers the deficit.

Let us move the country forward by supporting all Americans.

Robert Hill

Dayton

Government intervention not the answer

In your April 8 issue, UNR Professor Elliott Parker employed convoluted logic to make the case for socialized medicine. He echoes the elitist view that the masses are unable to make intelligent health care choices, ergo, government solutions. Parker's statement that insurance companies don't insure too many sick people is akin to saying that auto insurance companies don't insure too many drivers against accidents that have already happened.

The professor says, "We require every driver to have liability insurance," so why not health insurance? I see quite a difference between the privilege of driving and the right to live. Why not ban smoking, Big Macs and bungee jumping?

Over 200 years ago, 55 men gave us a system of limited government that provided necessary but limited services and protected the individual. This individual freedom and corresponding free markets - individuals making free decisions based upon self-interest - have created this nation where our poorest are the envy of 90 percent of the world's population.

Europe is not the road to the best health care for the most people. Quality health care is now available to more people in the U.S.A. than in anywhere else in the world. But Americans don't rest on their laurels. Costs will decline by removing the state-imposed monopolies and muzzling greedy attorneys, the same attorneys that have caused many insurance policies to be written in esoteric language.

No, professor, we need less government help, not more.

John Vettel

Carson City

Radical right, or God-fearing Americans?

A short rebuttal to Patrick McGuire's comments of April 1 on the "radical right lunatic fringe." It may surprise him to know that many of these people are God-fearing, family-oriented, responsible for self, spend only what they earn, do not believe in a large nanny government, veterans who have fought for your freedom, taxpayers, helping to support charities and civil.

Milt Croall

Minden