Observer Forum: Letters to the editor 05.14.15
In response to “Who should save man’s sight?” (May 13):
Lang put himself in this situation
In spite of genuine sympathy for someone facing the serious medical issues that Luis Lang faces, remember that Lang was a diabetic smoker who felt he didn’t need health insurance.
He hates the government, yet makes money from it as a self-employed handyman who works with banks and the federal government to maintain foreclosed properties.
His wife does not work and he refused to enroll in the Affordable Care Act coverage, but now blames President Obama, Congress and everyone else for his own failings – everyone but the GOP which helped put him in this bind.
Sorry, but he is solely responsible for his plight.
Dennis Hawley
Weaverville
Make basic health care a right like police and fire protection
In our country, we pride ourselves on assuming personal responsibility and expect our neighbors to do likewise.
However, we also believe in compassion and mercy.
Not only should health care be a basic right for all, like fire and police protection, but it would be cheaper in the long run to fund it the way we do those services from our taxes.
Not only is it cruel to let Mr. Lang go blind due to lack of preventive healthcare, but it will cost taxpayers more in the long run.
Malyn Pratt
Charlotte
In response to Our View “Health-care law spurring progress” (May 11 Editorial):
ACA merely shift costs from
one set of consumers to another
ACA merely shift costs from
one set of consumers to another
The writer is health policy director for the Independent Women’s Forum.
The Observer editorial on the Affordable Care Act only tells part of the story. Many people have suffered personal harm from canceled health insurance policies, broken doctor-patient relationships, increased costs, and decreased choices in drugs and hospitals.
It’s unfair to judge the law’s economic effects when the delayed employer mandate won’t fully take its toll until 2016.
We should pray that the Supreme Court soon gives us a chance to transition away from the ACA to a market-driven system that uses price transparency, competition, and consumer choice to lower costs – not subsidies that simply shift costs from one set of consumers to another.
Hadley Heath Manning
Washington, D.C.
In response to Our View “31-year wait for justice is enough” (May 12 Editorial):
Time for McCrory to act on pardon, Senate to pass bill
I also wrote to Gov. Pat McCrory regarding the long, long wait for Henry McCollum and Leon Brown to receive the money the state owes them for false imprisonment and received no response.
If McCollum and Brown did not have intellectual limitations and no financial resources, this travesty would not be happening!
It is time for the N.C. Senate to pass the bill to treat all exonerated inmates the same, and for our governor to treat all citizens with concern and respect.
Sandra Woolsey
Charlotte
In response to “I’m skeptical about study that picks Detroit over Charlotte” (May 12 Forum):
Obstacles to learning are real; volunteer and you’ll see them
Forum writer Dick Meyer says parents in poor neighborhoods do not get their kids to school each day.
He may not realize that many children do not have a parent capable of getting them to school every day. Or, that when these children do get to school they are hungry and/or without sleep.
Try volunteering at a school for a week, then speak.
Jo Labru
Charlotte
Time for NFL to stop accepting ‘win at all costs’ excuses
I watched two guys on ESPN repeatedly say Tuesday – with straight faces – that what the Patriots and Tom Brady did was OK because they’re the elite of the league!
This makes a mockery of the spirit of the game. The sooner the NFL faces up to these types of “win at all costs” excuses, the sooner everyone – fans, players, coaches, kids – will benefit from watching and/or participating in the game as it was intended to be.
Jeff Beaver
Charlotte
This story was originally published May 13, 2015 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Observer Forum: Letters to the editor 05.14.15."