Letters and commentary policy
The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy.
- E-mail letters@sduniontribune.com
- Mail: Andrew Kleske, Reader Outreach Editor
San Diego Union-Tribune
P.O. Box 120191
San Diego, CA 92112-0191.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, voted against H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care of America Act. He is out of touch with what is needed to reform America’s health care system.
In a recent letter I received from him, he said he wants to strengthen the private health care insurance companies and to continue looking for solutions in the private marketplace. Insurance companies have clearly demonstrated their motivation. They want more money in premiums for less treatment. They want to insure people who don’t need medical treatment. They are protected from antitrust laws.
The answer does not lie in that direction. The answer lies in regulating the insurance industry, in giving them competition, in requiring them to insure everyone at affordable prices. Health care should be a right, not a privilege. Health care should not be run a as a for-profit system. It should be a service to all Americans.
LANI SMITH
Poway
I want to thank my representative, Susan Davis, D-San Diego, for her favorable vote in the House on health care reform. I also want to encourage those who voted against to listen to Americans who desire and demand secure and stable coverage.
GABRIELA CEREIJIDO
La Jolla
I was very disappointed that my representative, Brian Bilbray, R-Carlsbad, did not vote for health care reform. I believe that a public option is necessary to help control the costs now dictated by the insurance companies. If Bilbray does not support a health reform bill in the final House vote, I will not vote for him again.
LEYDA BRUNING
Carlsbad
Let’s see, we have a health care crisis in this country and we’re ready to pass a bill to remedy this situation, when lobbyists for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops step in to nix the idea because of concerns related to the federal funding of abortions. Yes, lobbyists for the church. Then, the Catholic archdiocese of Washington, D.C., states that it will no longer provide social services if the city doesn’t change a proposed same-sex marriage law.
Who’s running the ship here? If the Catholic church or any religious entity wants to meddle in my government’s business, I believe they should feel free to do it — as long as they’re ready to give up their tax-exempt status. Someone explain to me why this hasn’t already occurred.
ROBERT JUENGST
La Mesa
I find it interesting that the same people who are fighting Obamacare because they don’t want the “government to get between you and your doctor” want to put the government between you and your doctor when it comes to abortion.
STEVE BRALLA
San Diego
I am sick to death of hearing about the cost of war in occupied countries, and we citizens (serfs) having to settle for less and less and less health care.
DOLORES DEMPSEY
Chula Vista
As a longtime registered Republican, I feel my party is dead wrong on this one. I am currently receiving Medicare and am extremely happy for this benefit. My wife is 62 and has some health issues that make it hard to get insurance. The only health insurance we could find was one with a $4,800 deductible and approximately $500 a month premium. It costs us $12,000 to $15,000 a year for out-of-pocket expenses to pay for her health care. We live on a limited budget and Social Security accounts for half of our income. We cannot continue to afford the medical expenses. We need comprehensive health care reform.
DON RIGGS
Escondido
Although there are many other concerns that working physicians have with the various elements of proposed health care reform, I would like to stress that no legislation should become law without serious tort reform. As a profession, we spend $400 billion annually for coverage representation and settlements. This does not include the more than 30 percent spent on tests that are ordered for defensive purposes only. No serious legislation that aims at lowering health care costs should be considered if this point is overlooked.
RUSSELL HOLMES, M.D.
Hospitalist Tri-City Medical Center Oceanside
Seventy-five percent of Americans like their best health program in the world and although it needs some corrective improvements, this bill isn’t it. AARP and the American Medical Association have been privately bought off so don’t let that influence you.
DON MADISON
San Diego
