Unhealthy reform

Unhealthy reform

To the editor:

President Obama makes these promises about his health care:

1. It will allow everyone to keep their current insurance.

2. Cost inflation will be reduced.

3. The legislation will be paid for.

The House plan does just the opposite of all of these promises.

The Obama claim that people can keep the insurance they have is a lie. People don't "decide" what health insurance they have, their employers do. Eighty million employees will be dumped from their current policies onto some kind of government option as employers decide it is cheaper to pay the 8 percent payroll penalty tax than keep their current, expensive insurance plans (Heritage Foundation).

The 8 percent payroll tax is not only cheaper but is indexed to the payroll growth rate, not the much higher growth rate for health care costs. Employees sense the government option will be a downgrade in their health care coverage and they are right.

The Obama claim that the plan will bend the cost curve down is a lie. It will actually bend it up (Congressional Budget Office).

"In Congressional Budget Office's judgment, the probability is high that no savings would be realized" from the House health plan. It will increase the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars.

Arthur Moren Jr.


No to Obamacare

To the editor:

As a three-time cancer survivor and a bone marrow transplant recipient, I have to speak out about President Obama's health care plan. I was diagnosed with stage four AML leukemia and I was given a 15 percent chance of living. I was immediately placed on chemotherapy and about a month later I went into remission.

I was doing well for about two months, when I relapsed and was told my AML leukemia was back and that I also had CNSL (central nervous system leukemia). My doctors told me I could get the same chemotherapy at a higher dosage and that I may go back into remission or I could try an experimental chemotherapy; I chose the experimental. I survived the treatment and went into remission once again.

I was then given radiation treatments and chemotherapy to kill any cancer cells in my body in preparation for my bone marrow transplant; I was given a 50 percent chance of surviving the bone marrow transplant procedure. I survived! (This is a shortened version; I could not write everything that I went through).

If I had been in Canada, England or any other socialized health care country I would not be here today. I would have had to wait several months for treatments after being diagnosed. I would have never received any experimental drugs (most socialized health care systems are 10 years behind in chemotherapies) and I would have never received a bone marrow transplant because I was too high of the risk for their bureaucrats.

Now President Obama wants to create a European (socialist style) health care system. This system will be run by bureaucrats who will determine if you will receive treatment, what treatment you can receive, and how many treatments you can receive based on risk and cost of treatment. You and your doctor will no longer have the ability to choose what course of treatment is best for you. Before you wish for nationalized health care you need to read the horror stories about Canadian and British health care.

Wynn S. Allen


The City that Works (out on steroids)

To the editor:

I grew up in New Canaan, and now live in Los Angeles. As I was growing up, Stamford went from a city that seemed like the proverbial "wrong side of the tracks" to what is now statistically one of the safest cities in America. And in fact, I am very proud of the progress Stamford has made as a city. However, as someone who lives in Los Angeles, the image capital of the U.S., where everywhere you go, plastic body parts outnumber real body parts, I can tell you, there is a serious image problem in Stamford "¦ and that problem is steroids.

I'm back in Connecticut right now visiting my family in New Canaan. I went out to "Alive @ Five" last Thursday with my two brothers. All of us are former athletes, we all still work out, and we've been around locker rooms enough to know who's using steroids. And I can tell you, by our count, at least one out of every three guys out at the bars in Stamford is on steroids. It's blatantly obvious: Cartoonish Popeye arms, (in the words of Danny DeVito's character in "Twins") backs that have "exploded," acne creeping up the back of the necks, and trapezoidal upper bodies with toothpick legs (steroid guys always neglect their lower bodies).

But you can also tell who's on the juice by the completely psychotic and aggressive behavior, or "Roid Rage" as it's often called. I was next to some total steroid monster at Bobby Valentine's bar, and he alternated between practically eating his girlfriend's face while trying to kiss her, then screaming at the bartenders and banging his fist on the bar. The bartenders finally cut him off, although I'm sure it wasn't the booze that was the catalyst for his behavior, at which point he had to be escorted out of the bar by the bouncers. I was thankful I hadn't bumped into him while trying to get a drink. If he had directed his ire at me instead of the bartender, who knows what could have happened?

Stamford is a terrific city. In fact, there are lots of things I like about it more than Los Angeles. Twenty years ago, it could have gone the way of the Newark, New Jerseys and Gary, Indianas of American cities. It could have ended up looking like a post-apocalyptic movie, where the cities look like they've endured a nuclear holocaust. But it didn't.

Thankfully, it went in the other direction. However, while steroids get national headlines for their role in sports, there seems to be a festering of testosterone in Stamford that goes unnoticed. As proud of Stamford's progress as I am, to me, there is one blaring asterisk. And we all know what that signifies by now.

Zach Volet

Los Angeles

