LETTERS

— Doubling his trouble

For several years I have been going to a heart doctor for my annual checkup at his office in a large heart clinic. He is a good doctor, and I have confidence in him. This year, the clinic has joined forces with a large hospital to improve heart care in Arkansas.

Well, now I have the same doctor and go the same clinic, but the charge for an office visit has increased considerably.

I now receive a statement from the clinic for the doctor’s 10-minute visit for $169, plus a separate billing from the hospital for $138 for “diagnostic services.” When questioned on this, the hospital called the charge a “facility fee.” So now when visiting my heart doctor I am charged for his visit and for use of the clinic’s facility.

In my opinion, I am being charged an excessive amount twice and the quality of my health care has not improved. I call this practice deceptive and dishonest.

My advice is to check all of your doctor and hospital charges. When the charges are not right, complain. The insurance company pays the doctor and hospital, but we have to pay the ever-increasing co-pays and insurance premiums.

STEVE CARTER

Clinton

Cash and corruption

A dollar a day from every worker in the United States amounts to an awful lot of money. And that’s what labor unions are all about in our time, union dues and power that can be bought with millions of dollars collected in dues.

Members agree to allow the hierarchy to be their sole representative with the intention of coercing higher wages, working conditions and benefits from their employers. In return, hierarchy defends members against charges of poor working habits, unsatisfactory production, etc., normally associated with dismissal. An unnatural schism is created between labor and management. We’ve witnessed numerous large corporations going bankrupt under the load of bloated wages, benefits and retirement pay far beyond years of productivity.

Forced unionization will create a monopoly on labor, thus a means of controlling all functions of activity within our country. To place that kind of power into the hands of organizations with reputations of being closely related to violence and organized criminal activities surely provokes the conclusion that this idea is total insanity.

Everyone deserves fair wages for work done. Employers deserve employees who will allow for sufficient profit to expand and prosper as well. Equally important, everyone deserves the right and freedom to work, and/or to create and operate a business.

JIMMIE TREWITT

Ward

Who picks up check?

I’ve seen comments from people who apparently voted for Mitt Romney and did not vote to re-elect President Barack Obama who want to secede from the Union. This is absurd.

Equally absurd are the letters from the people who apparently voted to re-elect President Obama who say, basically, “Let them go.”

That brings up the obvious question: If the people who voted for Romney were to leave, who would pay for everything?

MICHAEL BERGER

Benton

In search of integrity

Why does Grover Norquist have so much power over so many Republicans in the House and Senate of the United States? Most of the Republicans who pledged to him not to raise taxes are obviously afraid of him, and probably with good reason. Recently, after several top Republican senators said publicly that they would not honor their pledge to him, Norquist appeared to threaten those who would dare to renege on their pledge to him.

History shows us the power of fear, of threats. Power feeds off fear. The Muslim clerics in the Mideast can attest to this. The Castro brothers and Hugo Chavez threaten the lives of any who would dare oppose them. The people of Tibet fear the power of China, and China holds power over them. The people of North Korea have been cowed by fear to accept the rule of a dictatorial family.

How many Republican members of Congress sold their votes to a person who threatened them, who put into them the fear of not being re-elected? How many of them prefer holding on to their own power rather than considering the welfare of all the people in their electoral districts, Republicans and Democrats? How many sold their minds and their votes to Norquist?

Now the question arises: How many of them will have the integrity, the courage, to defy the threats of Norquist and to consider the welfare of the country?

ANTHONY M. BELMONT Fayetteville

From our tax dollars

I want to be the first to congratulate Nano-Mech of Springdale, which has just been selected for a $150,000 grant to develop a lubricant additive for motor oil.

My concern is that money for research and development for Nano-Mech comes from my tax dollars and not private equity. If this new technology has such great potential, how is it that private funds cannot be used instead? If private equity hasn’t embraced this technology, how feasible can it really be?

Nano-Mech, you and every taxpayer in the country may wish that you had never gotten in bed with the Department of Energy.

DAVID FROEMMING

Hot Springs Village

Laugh while you can

You Obama people laugh and crow while you can. Mitt Romney could have been a good leader for this country, better than what we have.

Unfortunately, we are too much about food stamps, welfare checks, disability and free handouts to be able to see any further into the future, and that is sad.

But thank God I live in Arkansas, a state where the majority of people are informed enough to know that booing God does not gain votes and does not help make a good political convention.

RANDY BEHL

Prairie Grove

Give players a break

Well, another football season has ended, but certainly not the way we ever would have imagined.

Yes, I’m disappointed, just like everyone else. But how do you think the players must be feeling? Sometimes we forget that it’s just a game. Don’t you think that the players are just as disappointed or more than the fans? And don’t forget about all of the adversity that they had to deal with.

What I’m trying to say is, fans, just give them a break. They did the best they could under the circumstances. Now we need to focus on the future and getting a coach who will get the Hogs back where they strive to be. And I believe we will get there.

Let’s all just have a little faith.

GLEN BAKER

Hot Springs

Editorial, Pages 17 on 12/01/2012

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