Diana Tittle, a member of the board of Sierra County Public-Interest Journalism Project, was the editor of the Sierra County Sun, the Citizen's precursor. A former resident of Truth or Consequences who now lives part-time in northern New Mexico, she spent her 42-year professional career in Cleveland, Ohio, where she worked as a newspaper reporter, magazine writer and editor, book author and publisher and publishing consultant. She is the recipient of a Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature.
And again the taxpayers get saddled for personal debt and bad choices.
Those 100 million of our fellow citizens struggling with medical debt. What were their bad choices? Failing to ward off cancer or preventing a car accident in which they were seriously hurt? My mother died of complications of Parkinson’s disease that required costly end-of-life hospitalization and hospice care covered by Medicare. Shame on her for ripping off the taxpayers?
I, by contrast, have apparently made some good choices in my life. I’ve never had a fire at my home. Why should I pay for a fire department? I never had kids. Why should I pay to educate other people’s children? I don’t live in Hurricane Alley. Why do my taxes support FEMA?
Why?
Because it is in the best interest of peace and prosperity that we ask our government to protect us, when necessary, from undue harm from abroad and within. Maybe we could reallocate some of the billions of dollars we pour into national security into ameliorating the financial distress inflicted on so many of our neighbors by a for-profit health care industry. Or, better yet, implement Medicare for All.
In a 2023 Survey of Consumer Experiences with Health Insurance conducted by KFF, an independent source of health policy research, 92 percent of people aged 65+ rated as “excellent” or “good” the overall performance of Medicare’s health insurance and the availability and quality of medical providers. Congressman Vasquez is just trying to do something to bridge the gap in government-provided health care coverage for citizens under 65.
And again the taxpayers get saddled for personal debt and bad choices.
Those 100 million of our fellow citizens struggling with medical debt. What were their bad choices? Failing to ward off cancer or preventing a car accident in which they were seriously hurt? My mother died of complications of Parkinson’s disease that required costly end-of-life hospitalization and hospice care covered by Medicare. Shame on her for ripping off the taxpayers?
I, by contrast, have apparently made some good choices in my life. I’ve never had a fire at my home. Why should I pay for a fire department? I never had kids. Why should I pay to educate other people’s children? I don’t live in Hurricane Alley. Why do my taxes support FEMA?
Why?
Because it is in the best interest of peace and prosperity that we ask our government to protect us, when necessary, from undue harm from abroad and within. Maybe we could reallocate some of the billions of dollars we pour into national security into ameliorating the financial distress inflicted on so many of our neighbors by a for-profit health care industry. Or, better yet, implement Medicare for All.
In a 2023 Survey of Consumer Experiences with Health Insurance conducted by KFF, an independent source of health policy research, 92 percent of people aged 65+ rated as “excellent” or “good” the overall performance of Medicare’s health insurance and the availability and quality of medical providers. Congressman Vasquez is just trying to do something to bridge the gap in government-provided health care coverage for citizens under 65.