Letters: Health care reform

HEALTH CARE REFORM

Obama's 'games' are democracy in action

President Obama told the crowd at Target Center that the time for games has passed. What does the president mean by "games"?

Could he mean informed citizens who understand that the government needs to demonstrate success in just a few huge programs before taking over 17 percent of the economy? Informed citizens who research legislation? Informed citizens who take time to contact their representatives, or informed citizens who attend town halls and demonstrations?

Our president was schooled in community action in Chicago, but characterizes any community action against his proposals as games. The president is in a hurry -- even more so than most members of his party. Could it be that he is worried that even more citizens will become informed and play the games that he rails against?

SUSAN SCHULTZ, SAVAGE

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I have Type 1 diabetes. After years of struggling to control my blood sugars using multiple daily injections, I switched to an insulin pump. The results were nothing short of miraculous. It allows me to live a much healthier life, and I am absolutely certain it will help me avoid costly health complications down the road.

I have good health insurance through my employer, yet my out-of-pocket cost to buy the pump was about $1,000, and the ongoing cost of supplies needed to operate the pump is a significant financial burden. Even with insurance, many people who need insulin pump therapy cannot afford it.

As an otherwise healthy person who cannot purchase private health insurance due to my preexisting condition, I wholeheartedly support President Obama's health care reform efforts. I am concerned, however, that an additional tax on medical devices will put these systems even further out of reach for the very patients the reforms are supposed to help.

CLEMMA MULLER, MINNEAPOLIS

PAWLENTY AND THE 10TH

He runs the risk of turning off Fed faucet

Guess what, Gov. Tim Pawlenty? If you decide to use the 10th Amendment to "opt out" and not implement national health care legislation in Minnesota, it's possible that the federal government would withhold massive amounts of federal funding to our state.

Do you really think Minnesota would be "healthier" if this occurred? The only way you were able to balance the current budget was with the federal dollars from the stimulus package.

Governor, please leave your political ambition out of this and serve the state you were elected to serve.

KATE CHRISTIAN, APPLE VALLEY

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President Obama comes here and praises our state as a model of excellent health care, and our governor warns that he hopes to "opt out" of any part of Obama's health plan he doesn't like.

I get it! Pawlenty is going to run for president of the Divided States of America.

FRED E. HAHN, GOLDEN VALLEY

THE LEVEL OF DISCOURSE

Don't blame liberals for the heated rhetoric

A Sept. 17 letter writer stated, "It never ceases to amaze me how, when liberals are greeted with honest disagreement or dissent, they will stop debating the facts and pull the race card."

We liberals can only hope for honest disagreements from the right these days. Instead we're greeted with rhetoric like that of Tea Party head Mark Williams, who called the president of the United States "an Indonesian Muslim-turned-welfare thug-and a racist in chief."

Williams and others are all too willing to pull the race card, not in honest disagreement, but in prejudiced hatred. Liberals are only playing the hand the right has dealt.

JAMES MATHEWSON, FARIBAULT, MINN.

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Former President Jimmy Carter outrageously asserts that recent protests and demonstrations against President Obama's policies, as well as the disrespectful outburst by a Republican representative during Obama's nationally televised speech before Congress, are "based on racism" and are rooted in fears of a black president.

Injecting race into the debate over critical issues facing American families doesn't create jobs, reform our health care system or reduce the growing deficit. It only divides Americans rather than uniting us to find solutions to challenges facing our nation.

DAVID A. WALBERG, ARDEN HILLS

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Democrats decry the behavior of Rep. Joe Wilson at President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress earlier this month. But they must have a short memory when it comes to matters of rudeness during a president's address to Congress.

Rewind to President George W. Bush and his 2005 State of the Union address. When he talked about Social Security reform, congressional Democrats were clearly heard rudely interrupting. It was not just one person, it was a group of Democratic members.

And there were no apologies, no media outcry and no pressure for an official reprimand.

BRAD VANDERMEEDEN, ELKO