Anchorage Daily News

Find a way to keep Fill the Boot

I recently appeared before the Anchorage Assembly to ask them to find a way to grant a permanent permit to the Anchorage firefighters for their Fill the Boot event that they have held every year for more than 25 years that benefits the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

I have benefited from services provided by MDA, so I have a vested interest in seeing this event continue. Their research has already extended my life span by 10 years. I'm only 18 and would like to live quite a while longer. I was dismayed by Mayor Sullivan's quick responses after my presentation. It appeared to me that he felt there was no way to resolve this issue. We are a democracy, Mayor Sullivan. An honest discussion about ways that we could make this event happen is all that I am asking. You owe that to the citizens of this municipality. I will not give up this fight, because it is, quite frankly, a life-or-death issue for me.

-- Bryan Arnold

Anchorage

Doing nothing no option

As an Alaska resident since 1962 I've tracked the changes due to climate change. We're losing whole forests to insect infestation and fires, we're losing ground in protecting species of birds and animals, our First Peoples are struggling to survive with crashing salmon returns. We're even losing our glaciers, which are not just tourist attractions, but our source of drinking water.

Doing nothing is not an option. As stewards of the Earth and good American citizens, we must act. A good beginning will be the successful passage of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. Similar legislation has passed the House and now we must put pressure on our senators to support and pass this groundbreaking legislation, because it is a step in the right direction.

-- Robyn Lauster

Anchorage

Excuse is sick as caribou carcass

The article ("Hunter says he'll change plea," Oct. 29) leaves me gasping. "It wasn't that bad," he said.

After he shot said caribou, the carcass was left in the field because it appeared sickly.

If I were shot with a high-powered rifle, my carcass would be sick too. I rest my case.

-- Dave Eubank

Anchorage

Proposals bad for our health

Last week I surveyed 11 percent of Anchorage M.D.s. Eighteen percent of the M.D.s said they could stay in business if paid at Medicare rates and 55 percent would consider opting out or retiring if the current health care reform proposals pass Congress. This survey indicates the potential catastrophic consequences to our health care industry here in Anchorage and in our nation if current bills pass.

The Medicare bill S 1776 did not pass last week and this is good, as it will not lock us in at the same Medicare payment rates for the next 10 years. I lose $68 or more every time I see a Medicare patient and can face a $10,000 fine for fraud if I make a mistake on that same chart note. Medicare auditors are paid on commission and this absolutely needs to be changed.

The current bills will add $1.8 trillion in administrative costs and still leave approximately one-twelfth of Americans uninsured. Our taxes and national debt will significantly increase, and our health care will decline.

Vote NO on the current health care reform proposals!

-- Ilona Farr, M.D.

Anchorage

Give me solutions

Several weeks ago I called Sen. Murkowski's office to offer my opinion that health care reform should include a public option. Her aide listened carefully, thanked me for my input and asked for my home address. A few weeks later I received a polite, well-written reply in which the senator offered her reasons for not agreeing with me.

But the more I read her letter the more it seemed to say nothing.

She agreed with me that health care in America is in trouble and needs repair. Good. But the bulk of her letter is dedicated to explaining that she disagrees with the Democrats on how to achieve the needed fixes. She does not indicate why she disagrees, beyond a general statement that government can't do things well.

Senator, if you disagree with the Democrats, I want to know why. What specifically is wrong with their ideas?

Most important, however, is what the senator didn't say at all. She gave not even a hint of an alternate solution to what she admits is a huge problem.

Is that what the party of Lincoln has come to? Are they really just the party of NO?

-- Jack Curtiss

Anchorage

Ousting insurance would spell savings

Americans spend $2.3 trillion a year on health care. Studies have shown that 31 cents of every health care dollar go to pay for insurance and the administrative costs of insurance. Thus, by eliminating insurance, health care costs can be lowered by 31 percent, or $713 billion a year. Sen. Mark Begich has publicly stated that he does not support single-payer health care, while observing that health care insurance premiums in Alaska have doubled over the last 10 years.

Apparently Sen. Begich does not want to save $713 billion a year and wants to continue on the path where premiums double every 10 years.

Health care "reform" that requires compulsory insurance and taxes health care benefits is not reform. Such "reform" is an expansion of a broken and corrupt health care delivery system that will increase health care costs.

Any "Democrat" like Sen. Begich who votes for such "reform" does not deserve to be re-elected.

-- Jed Whittaker

Anchorage

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