Letters to the editor for Friday, Feb. 28, 2014

Hold lawmakers to a much higher standard

In my opinion, elected legislators should be held to a far higher standard of conduct because the laws they promulgate directly affect the amounts of criminal activity.

We need law (rules) to keep social discourse civil (civilization). Violation of the law is defined as “crime.” Confusing and poorly constructed laws cause great expense in both enforcement and the court system, not to mention costs of incarceration upon conviction.

Logic therefore dictates that we ought to hold lawmakers (legislators) to a higher degree of moral and intellectual standards than the general citizenry. What they do and say is crucial to civil discourse to any community.

Note: Most legislators are already well paid for what they are supposed to be doing. I suspect that these good wages are also something that must be considered when we investigates a (cause and effect) of a lawmakers function (pay for performance).

Howard Gorsuch

Carson City

Sure enough, elderly will face ‘death panels’

In reference to Don Gurney’s letter on Feb. 19, thanks for the warning! Before Obamacare, if the doctor or medical facility didn’t tell us that we weren’t covered under Medicare, we were not responsible for the healthcare expenses incurred. Now we will be billed for what Medicare considers “not necessary” treatment even though the doctor prescribed it. That change alone is hurting the elderly and disabled; we don’t know what other surprises we will encounter. Obamacare is taking $716 billion out of Medicare to pay for Obamacare and has already taken $22 billion as of Jan. 1. Anyone believing we won’t be denied health care is very possibly naive.

First we heard that if and when we had the misfortune of entering the emergency room and then found ourselves needing to be admitted to the hospital, and if the hospital made note that we were “under observation” rather than an “in-patient,” then we’d be billed for the time we were “under observation.” If Medicare does not approve payment, then for many of us, our supplemental insurance will not pay either.

Many on Medicare will not be able to pay these unexpected bills that will be received without any warning and may not choose to have the necessary care as prescribed by their doctors. Thus, we have the “death panels” for the elderly and disabled, just as Sarah Palin stated and was consequently belittled, degraded and diminished by those who knew she was speaking the truth! I’ve not been a fan of Sarah Palin; however, I admire her courage to speak out!

Donna Simpson

Carson City