To save our hospitals
If you live in a small Arkansas town and you don't want to risk having your hospital reduce its services or close, please contact Senators Tom Cotton and John Boozman and tell them to vote against the Senate health-care bill (now called the Better Care Reconciliation Act).
The bill's deep cuts to Medicaid will put many Arkansas hospitals in the red and make health care unaffordable for several hundred thousand Arkansans. Medicaid is something a great many of us will eventually need. Most people in nursing homes receive Medicaid support.
DOUG HOLMES
North Little Rock
Story of aid recipient
Our grandson, Roman Rhett Todd, was born Feb. 29, 2016, at only 24 weeks' gestation. He was in the neonatal ICU for the first six months of his life and has been hospitalized four times since. Earlier this month he was having severe breathing troubles and his parents took him to Arkansas Children's Hospital. While he was there the doctors did a follow-up CAT scan to check on the shunt in his head for severe brain bleeds. They found it had malfunctioned and he was rushed into operation. Afterward his breathing got much worse and his status declined rapidly. He nearly died. He was in the hospital for two weeks recovering.
Roman is severely developmentally delayed. Sixteen months have gone by since he was born and he is still physically and mentally like a newborn. He can't sit up on his own, he can't even hold his head up straight for more than a few seconds. He doesn't crawl or even have the ability to roll from his stomach to his back. Though disabled, Roman is the happiest little boy; he wins over the hearts of all around him in moments.
Because of Medicaid, Roman is still alive and thriving. He receives physical, occupational, and speech therapies from a Medicaid-funded program for disabled children in Cabot.
Roman's father works for a Wal-Mart distribution center out of Searcy. Roman's mother is a stay-at-home mom taking care of Roman and taking him to doctor appointments.
My wife Andrea and I have Roman over on the weekends and sometimes during the week to give our daughter some rest. Roman is the love of our lives. He is sweet and loves to be held and even kisses back when kissed. Roman's laughter is contagious when you tickle him.
Even with Medicaid, Andrea and I help our daughter and son-in-law pay for medication and medical supplies as Medicaid only provides a limited amount each month. This $800 billion cut and caps on Medicaid will send our family into bankruptcy and possibly Roman's death.
PATRICK GRAY
Lonoke
Bill's also known as ...
Trumpcare: Death by a Thousand Funding Cuts.
SALLYE MARTIN
Fayetteville
Stop using that term
A recent article quoted Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissenting from a ruling that passed concerning the Missouri case of discriminating against churches in giving government funds to a church. For one thing, we church members pay the taxes that are being given away, so why shouldn't we receive a share?
My main gripe is Sotomayor using the term "separation of church and state." I am so tired of people, especially justices, using that term. The First Amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..." It says nothing about churches receiving, giving, or using government property.
I realize this means any established religion has the same rights, not just mine, Christian.
MARCELLA GRIMMETT
Little Rock
Those nuclear threats
I am troubled by North Korea's seeking of nuclear capabilities. I am more troubled by reflecting on the potential catastrophic consequences of the U.S. unleashing a pre-emptive attack against North Korea. I think that North Korea is motivated in part by a perceived need to deter aggression by the U.S.
I think that Iran's earlier nuclear buildup was similarly motivated. I am pleased by the outcome of the negotiations with the P5+1 in reaching a constructive agreement for restraint. In dealing with North Korea, the U.S. needs to work closely with South Korea, Japan, China and others toward a satisfactory resolution of the impending nuclear crisis.
JOHN R. PIAZZA
Bethel Heights
It's time to stand up
I always believed that America was the beacon of hope. Because we were a Christian nation we were required to be leaders, protectors, rescuers and big brothers to the defenseless. But this image of our country is being dismantled one brick at a time. We're becoming head-waggers to the worst of behavior. We're sacrificing what we know in our hearts to be right for political one-upmanship.
This political assault on health care tells the tale. The only people who think this is a good idea are those who assume their Medicare is safe or expect to always work for a company that will provide proper health care. Somehow it seems OK to take affordable health care from working-class Americans or to take Medicaid away from older Americans in assisted living. And folks don't realize how this will adversely affect the funding of smaller local hospitals.
When I breached 60, my health insurance shot up to around $1,700 a month. I was an active nonsmoker who had never seen a day in the hospital. I raised my deductible to push it down to the $1,200 range. Being a small-business owner, this was an overwhelming situation until a friend and fellow small-business owner suggested the ACA. For the same coverage I paid $380 a month until I qualified for Medicare.
Do you know why I didn't immediately pursue this myself? Because I didn't trust a government initiative. From beginning to end, I had the same exact coverage with Blue Cross. It was never government-run.
This new health-care initiative will push us back to a not-too-distant time when growing older meant unaffordable health care. They will offer you plans with lower premiums, but with watered-down coverage and caps on listed ailments.
Now is the time to stand up for Christian principles. It doesn't really matter which side of the political fence you're on; we all better start paying attention to what is going in Washington.
And it carries a dark cloud.
WADE GREEN
Camden
What Sodom taught
As Congress repeals and replaces Obamacare, I trust that the members will heed the lesson of Sodom: "This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy."
JACKSON JONES
Harrell
Editorial on 06/29/2017