New plan beats death panels

Governor Martinez's signing of a call to repeal the health care act is her affirmation of the conservative agenda of maintaining the status quo or more accurately, revert to the “robber baron” days. The Affordable Health Care Act was designed to cover more people, curb some insurance abuses and put in some market controls.

The old system allowed 30,000-plus people per year to die due to no insurance, and was globally by far the most expensive plan. The World Health Organization ranked our old “free market” system 37th. Some third-world countries ranked near us. Rightfully we have been at war for about 10 years with over 7,000 deaths but we sacrifice 30,000 souls per year at the altar of “free market.”

The Affordable Care Act is not perfect but is a step in the right direction. The special interest segments of our country, insurance, pharmaceutical, some health industries and those benefitting financially are the ones behind the repeal. The act does not have “death panels,” nor does it ration health care - that's insurance company territory. No country has emulated our health care system. It served one purpose: A bad example to stay away from.

We Americans need all our leaders to do an objective analysis of situations and choose the best solution that will benefit our whole society and not just special interests.

—Leon Logan

Tucumcari

Workers earned “entitlements”

Dear Editor:

We keep hearing about “entitlement programs” during news broadcasts and on every political program. Let us think about what “entitlement” is. It is a “right.” And we Americans earned the right to receive our Social Security checks every time we arrived at work for the day and spent that day working and paying in. We also earned that right each time our employer matched our contribution.

President Franklin Roosevelt set up Social Security to ensure that Americans would have a retirement fund. Now, some wish to rob the bank called Social Security to pay for out-of-control spending for policies that often benefit the rich. The excuse used in the past: “This is an emergency.”

Also, let us remind politicians that we seniors would often rather lose our own Social Security checks than see our children’s money be deducted to pay for the national debt. The threat of that possibility is being discussed. We must quit calling our earned benefits “entitlement programs.” Social Security is an earned benefit and we will do well to keep it intact.

— LSandra Beevers Bates

Tucumcari