Caring about health care is the first step
Welcome to the health care debate
In response to “I had a surprising health care epiphany” (Jan. 25 Forum):
I agree with Barry Marshall that all Americans should have health care. Poor health affects the sick, as well as family members who must care for them. Employers suffer, too, as workers drop out due to illness or to care for sick loved ones.
Our ad hoc mix of Medicare, Medicaid, the VA and private insurance is horribly inefficient.
Is this a problem that needs to be addressed? If yes, will market forces take care of it? Should government step in? If so, should government tweak the system with new laws and regulations, should it completely take over, or is there an “in-between” solution?
What would Barry Marshall do? What would any of us do? The solution is not clear cut, but are we to do nothing?
Welcome to the debate, Mr. Marshall.
Terry Neal, Mooresville
Trump doesn’t care about black people
In response to “Blacks can gain by supporting Trump” (Jan. 26 Forum):
I find it appalling that any black person, male or female, thinks that Trump, a man who has shown himself to be, among other things, a racist and a misogynist, has their best interests at heart. Trump has repeatedly shown that the only interests he supports are his own.
Forum writer Joy Shivar says, “we now have some confidence that we can know what to expect.” Really? The only thing we know we can expect is inconsistency, if that’s what she means. If you are a black person who feels Trump deserves your support, you’ve either been watching too much Fox News, not been paying attention, or being willfully ignorant. Trump is not in your corner – to quote him, “believe me.”
Gene Kavadlo, Charlotte
Trump isn’t fooling me either
In response to “Donald Trump can’t buy off blacks that easily” (Jan. 30 Opinion):
Another thought provoking column by Issac Bailey! I must confess my first thought was blacks are not alone. Donald Trump can’t buy off whites that easily either! At least those of us whites whom I would label using an old but familiar phrase “the silent majority”!
Richard Lindsey, Charlotte
Parents deserve harsh punishment
My heart hurts for the children in California who received inhumane treatment from their parents. I do not understand how in the world these children slipped through the cracks of our society and endured the horror that was being played out in their home. They will need so much loving care. The parents should receive the maximum sentence possible.
Barbara Bell Kerr,
Charlotte
Are we repeating a Cardinal mistake?
In response to “New board restricts spending at Cardinal health care agency” (Jan. 30):
Let’s see if I have this right. County Commissioner George Dunlap, Carmen H. Odom and Bryan Thompson were on the board of directors of Cardinal when it approved a salary for the CEO that was three times the amount permitted by state law; were on the board when it approved severance pay for Cardinal executives the state says was unlawful; were on the board that is the subject of a temporary restraining order; were on the board when other questionable trips and expenditures were made. Now they are back on the new board of directors of Cardinal. Somebody just put the foxes back into the hen house.
Bob Burroughs, Charlotte
Doctors can’t ignore some morals
In response to “A doctor’s oath shouldn’t have ‘moral’ or ‘religious’ loopholes” (Jan. 28 Viewpoint):
Dr. Frederick L. Greene’s column opposing accommodation for medical professionals who are asked to perform procedures that violate their conscience, is a classic exercise in reductio ad absurdum. He creates ridiculous scenarios involving race or sexual orientation, suggesting outcomes that insult the moral integrity of men and women of conscience.
He also dodges around the simple and obvious – there is no harm to the medical profession or patients if doctors who believe a fetus is a living human leave abortion procedures to others. What could be more absurd than to pressure a doctor who has taken the Hippocratic Oath to intentionally kill what he considers to be a living person?
Tom L. Bowers, Charlotte
This story was originally published January 30, 2018 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Caring about health care is the first step."