Letters To The Editor

What is wrong with the radical opposition to reasonable health-care reform? Soon after the death of Senator Kennedy, Mike Huckabee, former governor and presidential candidate and minister, declared that, had the currently proposed health-care reform been in place, Senator Kennedy would have been forced to go home to die after his diagnosis of a brain […]

Instead of calling our hot dry weather “fire weather,” which sets us up for having a fire, how about calling it “fire prevention weather.” This would set us up to prevent fires.

Marines of the Coastal Valleys—including the communities of Santa Maria, Orcutt, Santa Ynez, Solvang, Buellton, Lompoc, Los Alamos, Los Olivos, and Guadalupe—have gathered together to form a new Marine Corps League detachment. Marine Corps League Coastal Valleys Detachment 1340 has officially been chartered.   The Marine Corps League is dedicated to helping active duty and […]

Regardless of where Congress goes with health care, isn’t it time we paid attention to our own health-care footprints? A study appearing in this month’s Journal of the American Medical Association says that you can reduce your risk of chronic diseases—such as diabetes, stroke, cancer, and heart disease—by 80 percent just by following four simple […]

As a member of AARP, I oppose any governmental involvement in health care! I have no confidence in my elected officials in Washington, D.C., since their current and past actions of mismanagement for Medicare, Social Security, and bail-out plans for undeserving companies speak volumes! The average American has no voice in government any longer, since […]

One of the most ignorant arguments against health-care reform is that we will then have government making decisions about health care options. So am I to assume that those who are afraid of that are OK with CEOs and “for-profit” corporate bureaucrats making those decisions?  Who do they think is making those decisions now? It’s […]

Let’s have real health-care reform, and let’s use a popular, efficient, and successful program that has a track record: Medicare. Medicare is not padded, like private insurers, with profit, exorbitant executive salaries and perks, cost of advertising, and the payroll of staffs of actuaries, agents, salespeople, and lobbyists.   Here’s the proposal: Expand Medicare in […]

In writing this letter, I would hope to clear the minds of skeptics who fear a government-run, single-payer health-care system. I’ve used both private and government-run health care programs. In evaluating the two, I can only conclude that the private sector leaves much to be desired.   While I was enrolled and covered under the […]

Today we were driving 50 on Orcutt Road in the country when a motorcyclist with a short-sleeved T zoomed past us at twice that speed. When he has an “accident,” who will pay the medical bills? The answer is we, the sane, responsible people.   The Arroyo Grande council noted that when people riding the […]

I’m a disabled vet with a public health-care program, and I’m happy.   My mother felt secure with Medicare and a supplemental insurance. Now, Congress wants to give all Americans an option to buy public insurance at a rate they can afford—creating competition with the for-profits, who have been declining care for decades and killing […]

When I read Jamie Ford’s letter advocating the dismantling of the veterans’ health care system (“Do veterans deserve socialist health care?” July 30), it certainly sounded to me like a position of advocacy and not a satire (as stated in “In support of the Veterans Administration,” Aug. 13).   Maybe he should do as a […]

We have the best medicine in the world because the American free-enterprise capitalist system developed it. Let’s not ruin it with socialism.   Medicare is a good example of what not to do. It costs too much, seniors older than 75 like ourselves are forced to use it, we are forced to pay for it […]