Health care premiums
continue to skyrocket
A quiet event happens in our homes at this time every year. We open our mail to find notices that our health insurance premiums are increasing. The rate of increase seems to grow larger every year. Next year my drug premium will go up 32 percent and my wife's will go up 20 percent. These amounts are always way, way beyond the rate of inflation. And there's not a thing we can do about it.
I notice the cost for a health care plan for a family has now surpassed $20,000 annually.
The insurance companies and drug companies can pretty much do to us whatever they want. They have bought all of our legislators (that includes you, Arkansas Congressional delegation), who are highly dependent on their huge campaign contributions for their reelection. For our legislators it's all about getting re-elected, and they know how they're going to pay for this.
Isn't capitalism wonderful? At least we don't have that God-awful "socialized medicine" that attends to the health needs of all of the citizens in all of the other nations on this planet.
Americans keep paying more and more for worse and worse health outcomes. How much longer before this whole thing collapses?
Sandy Wylie
Bella Vista
Tom Cotton hasn't done
anything for Arkansas
In the last week there have been several letters extolling the virtues of Sen. Tom Cotton. How about some facts to go with your Kool-aid? Cotton was wined and dined, bought and paid for by the Koch brothers and the NRA. This man is very greedy, arrogant and aggressive. As a junior senator he saw fit to write a letter to a foreign dignitary, expressing views that were way above his pay grade. He will vote as the president and the money people tell him to vote. He has not done one single thing for the state of Arkansas.
Nothing on gun control. The EPA is a total joke nationally and state-wise. He likes to kill things. He has done nothing about the pig farm on the Buffalo River. We are encouraged to carry a gun every where we go. It is OK to hunt in any national forest or park. This is so shameful.
Arkansas is a beautiful state, but it won't stay beautiful if the people don't take better care of her and her resources.
Susan Hamilton
Bella Vista
Why can't the two parties
work together for nation?
I want to talk about Mr. [Steven] Trulock's letter published Sept. 18, 2019. He talks about the Republicans doing nothing and letting the Democrats have a chance.
Well, all the Democrats have done ever since Trump announced he was running for president is nothing but try to get him out of office. They were stunned when Trump won. And now they want to bring Judge Kavanaugh up before the Senate again. In fact, Kamala Harris says both he and Trump should be impeached.
This is all the Democrats can think about. They are not doing anything to help run the country. Don't think the foreign countries are not watching all of this. Don't think they are not watching all the mass shootings that take place nearly every day now. They are just waiting for their chance to come in here and take over.
My point is, why can't the Democrats and Republicans work together to protect this country? Also, they should try together to think about how we are going to repay all the trillions of dollars that we owe China.
Glannis Mason
Fayetteville
Editorial on 10/01/2019