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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 22, 2007

Raising The 'Sick Tax'

Regarding "Dingfelder Plays Emotional Games With Necessary City Cutbacks" (Our Opinion, Dec. 19):

Tampa's outsourcing plan is emotional because 100 employees, their spouses and children will lose access to health insurance coverage, which is contrary to public health goals. Nationally, Florida has the third-highest percentage of population that is uninsured - one in five residents. Increasing the number of uninsured residents can create inefficiencies in the community and make health care more expensive for all.

Lack of health insurance negatively affects health status and average life expectancy. For example, blacks have a much shorter average life expectancy, which in part reflects the lesser percent covered by insurance. Often, those who cannot pay for health services delay seeking care or are denied non-emergency services.

While some "free" care is provided to uninsured patients in hospitals and emergency departments, the cost of this care is passed on to paying patients in the form of higher prices. This is dubbed a "sick tax" because funded patients are paying for the uninsured.

Some uninsured residents qualify for government health programs, such as Medicaid or the county health plan. Tampa's savings from reduced health insurance premiums may create additional expense for government health programs.

BARBARA L. ORBAN

Tampa

Misleading Headline
The Tribune used a poor choice of words in the "City's Ax Aims At Minorities" (Metro, Dec. 19). She must realize when any organization must reduce its staffing, it does not start with the president and work terminations downward through the ranks. The way it's done is to lay off the less-skilled worker, and this often results in a lopsided percentage of minorities. This is far different than taking aim at them, as the headline indicates.

Your editorial of the same date shows most of you know how reducing employees is done. Councilman Dingfelder must feel it's to his benefit to stir up civil unrest. I suspect he may feel that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson make good livings doing this, so why not join that group.

GENE D. BARKER

Brandon

Job Cuts, Nothing Else

Councilman Dingfelder needs to realize that the mayor's job cuts are just that - job cuts, regardless of who holds the job.

If he continues with his personal rampage, I will put him in the company of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

HENRY PIERCE

Tampa

Just Doing His Job

Regarding "Dingfelder Plays Emotional Games With Necessary City Cutbacks" (Our Opinion, Dec. 19):

I thought we elected our City Council members to work for us and not the mayor's office.

John Dingfelder is doing the job we are paying him to do. He cares about the janitors and the security guards, who are about to face the unemployment lines, more than the mayor's office does.

If the mayor really wanted to save a lot of money, she would clean up her own office where the salaries are huge. Those jobs could be contracted out and save the city a lot more than any janitorial or security job. Better yet, why not lay off some of those city employees in the street and surveying departments. You know those people; they are the ones you drive by and see just sitting around in their trucks or sitting under the nearest tree doing as little as possible, yet getting paid top dollar.

Both the mayor and Darrell Smith told Dingfelder he was welcome to get this information on his own. Now that he has, they don't like what he found out, so they are accusing him of overstepping.

Keep up the good work, Mr. Dingfelder.

LIZABETH CANTOS

Tampa

Privatization Is Wrong

Hurray for John Dingfelder for standing up against cutting the pay of our lowest-paid workers. If the mayor and other "privatization heroes" want to cut the cost of government, there are many other areas that seem to be off the table now, such as merging much of the county and Tampa city government functions.

The privatization heroes could subcontract out police and fire protection to Blackwater, or parks and recreation to Busch Gardens and Sysco. Tax collection could go to our own Amscot. The mayor and city council could be outsourced to any number of management outsourcing companies.

John Dingfelder is right - the privatization of our government services is wrong.

RUSSELL W. PATTERSON

Tampa

The writer is associate professor and chair of Health Policy Management at the USF College of Public Health.

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