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Vail Daily letter: Bad legislation

Leona Hemmerich
Vail, CO, Colorado
newsroom@vaildaily.com

The health care issue is one of those super-complicated debates that can be answered neither by a bunch of simplistic answers nor by throwing money at them.

I agree we need reform, but have you read even part of the bill? I read the whole House version that was eliminated when the Senate took the bill.

They deleted everything that was passed in the House and substituted their own version.



While some parts were the same as the House version, it became a very different animal. In fact, one of the very first items in the Senate bill dealt with affordable housing. What does that have to do with health care?

The current version has so much pork in it from all the payoffs the Senate found necessary to secure the passage of the bill that even if the bill itself could be said not to add to the deficit, the bill in its present form will most definitely add tremendously to the deficit.

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If it is such a good bill,

why were they making back-room deals, not allowing their Republican counterparts the opportunity to see those changes, which constituted many pages, until they were ready to vote on it?

There are a number of things that could be done to make our system better, but lumping a lot of things together into one omnibus package that no one truly understands is not a good answer.

Just listen to Pelosi, who said at a Washington meeting recently, “Let’s vote for the bill so we can find out what’s in it.” This is congressional insanity.

While the current version does have some good aspects that if pulled out and voted on separately would be a good thing, it has a lot of ominous parts as well, such as eliminating long-term care for those on Medicaid.

While Ms. Samson is rightfully frustrated and upset over the amount of money they have to pay for insurance premiums, would you rather have rationed care where you might have to wait such a long time to be seen that the cancer would have killed you before you could get in for the surgery?

My brother-in-law had such a friend in Canada who succumbed to cancer while waiting for the eight-month scheduled rationed surgery.

If you read the bill, you also would know it says nothing about making health care really affordable. It simply mandates that everyone be on the system, yet allowing them to opt out if they’re willing to pay the fine.

Finally, those who would use the shibboleth of moral values while eschewing the commandment “Thou shalt not steal” contradict the whole notion of morality.

Yes, we should help those in need, but giving should be voluntary. Historically in this country we have been a very giving people, but as coerced giving through taxation takes its toll, those who want to give will be less able to do so.

Leona Hemmerich


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