Letters to the Editor
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12/19/12
Dear Editor,
It's Amazing! Me and my husband knew there was something more wonderful about this county than in most places we have been. Everyone has been so kind.
We have been staying at the excellent 2 Rivers RV Park and now the wonderful Hiwassee RV park next to the Delano, TN Post Office on Hwy 411. Last night topped it all. We watched an emergency lifeline helicopter land in the field between the RV Campground and the USA Postal Service. There were many emergency vehicles to save someone at around 2am last night. At this time, we do not know who it was they came for.
What was more amazing than that is our manager was also out there and explained that around here when there is a life threatening emergency the people here know to come to the post office to get help. I have never seen this in other places except a lift from hospital to hospital. People have to get to the hospital by ambulance or vehicle first, then lifted to another hospital if necessary. I thought this was just one of those extra kind things that the people here may not even realize, doesn't happen in other places.
I'd like to praise any and all involved for this special service that they do. It almost made me cry as we also prayed for the person who was in trouble and their loved ones.
Sincerely,
Clyde Jacobs and Joyce (Trumbull) Jacobs
Dear Editor,
Tennessee Lacks Leadership in Healthcare
I am disappointed to hear the news from Governor Haslam that he will not set up the mandated healthcare exchange and will let the federal government come into our state and manage more that 1/3 of our state budget for us. We should be leading the exchange and not taking a back seat, TN is a hotbed of health insurance activity, if any state should be taking control of their own program in this great nation, it seems like TN would.
I became very interested in this process because of the potential savings for my family business. We are small business owners in farming and pay for our own health insurance coverage. Over the years is seems that health insurance companies became so good at writing confusing policies, that other companies had the opportunity to resell this product. This is why we have BCBS coverage through Farm Bureau and not just BCBS. The Tennessee Farm Bureau realized the rural citizens were not able to pick the policy for themselves, so TFB started reselling BCBS to its members. Essentially becoming a middleman. This was thought of as a win, win. Farmers and rural family had health insurance they could comprehend and TFB made a little (lot) of extra money to promote their lobbing causes.
Last year I emailed our State Senator Mike Bell encouraging the exchange to be set up as quickly as possible. It should cut out the middleman and reduce our cost on insurance. It will also give consumers more options, like going to Expedia and planning a vacation trip, simply choose the type of coverage you would like and see what all participating plans cost. I was almost excited at the prospect of having a little control over the insurance I purchased. At that time, Senator Bell was hoping the mandate for an exchange would be found unconstitutional, or that a new President would be elected and the law repealed, but would rather have our state run the exchange and not give Federal control. After neither one of these occurred, I again email Senator Bell asking for information about the exchange, hopeful to find some good news. Unfortunately, he had changed his mind “I've done an about face on the exchange. As I have learned more about it I am now against the state setting up the exchange. There are pros and cons to both options but I feel this is going to be a disaster either way and I would rather the responsibility fall on the feds.” -MB
Seriously? We need representatives in our State Congress to show leadership and not take the attitude that if something is doomed to fail, let the feds take care of it. How can it be doomed to fail if 23 other states have already started the process, Tennessee received and spent $9 Million Federal dollars studying the process, and we waited until the last minute to take a pass?
Maybe Senator Bell is unaware how many people the Affordable Care Act will help in his district. Many of the uninsured will be able to have some type of health care coverage for the first time, and he is against this. Many of us paying out of pocket for insurance will have reduced rates, and he is against this. The ones who stand to will lose money because of the exchange would be companies in the Middleman position and lobbyist in Nashville, interesting enough, more than 70% of Senator Bells’ campaign contributions come from Nashville and the Health industry.
It seems too late to voice our opinion now, but I hope that we all remember this lack of leadership the next opportunity to vote.
Sincerely,
Blake Rymer
Old Fort, TN
Senator Bell’s Campaign Contribution Fund: http://votesmart.org/candidate/campaign-finance/67370/mike-bell#.UMdTTaX3DoA
Dear Editor:
During the Copperhill Christmas parade, my granddaughter Destiny Pittman was riding in an open-top Jeep as Snow Queen. By the time the parade turned from McCaysville into Copperhill, Destiny was crying. Several parade watchers commented and wondered why she was crying. When the parade got to me, I went up to the float to see why Destiny was crying. As it turned out, she had been stung on her hand, the hand she was waving to the crowd with. I appreciate everyone asking if she was alright. As her papaw, I want everyone to know she is a trooper and kept on waving that hand anyway. I am very proud of her.
Mac York
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