Abortion coverage Health care reform means covering women, and women need reproductive coverage. ...more

November 20, 2009

As a breast cancer survivor, I feel particularly qualified to assert my opinion on the latest U. S. Preventive Services Task Force's guidelines regarding mammograms. I'm uncertain at this point exactly whose best interests are served by this organization, but as one whose "starting annual mammograms at age 40" prevented "one additional death," I hope my story merits publication in your newspaper. ...more

November 20, 2009

I do want health care reform, but not like what has been voted on in Congress. This hurts most of us. Taxes will go up, no doubt. Medicare suffers. That hurts disabled persons and the elderly — those we are entrusted to care for. ...more

November 17, 2009

Thanks to 220 courageous U.S. representatives who voted yes, we now have a chance for health care reform. ...more

November 17, 2009

Rep. Tom Rooney, please reconsider your last opportunity to support reform in the upcoming final House vote. I have a friend who has unbearable back pain and has been given powerful narcotics but no other treatment for it because she is not old enough for Medicare, is unsure of what her work record is and so is not eligible for SSDI (disability,) was helped to get on Medicaid but since it is share of cost she can neither see a doctor in his office nor be admitted to a hospital for any effective length of time. She has a hole in her esophagus and has been told to just "watch it." She can hardly swallow anything and has somehow not qualified for tests for this situation. The only way she can be seen in a medical setting is in the ER where they have to treat her but they count the minutes before they send he back out to bear her pain alone. ...more

November 15, 2009

Robert Whitener's letter in the Nov. 11 edition of Hernando Today, "Standing up for health care," cites a figure of 46 million uninsured Americans. This oft-quoted statistic is actually a gross overestimation of the problem, as recent research suggests the number of Americans who cannot currently afford health insurance is much lower. ...more

November 14, 2009

Reform needed I was very disappointed that our representative, Ginny Brown-Waite, did not support the health reform legislation (HR 3962) that passed late Saturday night. ...more

November 13, 2009

My wife is retired, and I will be 66 years old. I favor health care reform with a public option to put pressure on the insurance industry. ...more

November 12, 2009

County commissioners Tuesday unanimously ratified a contract the union negotiated with management. ...more

November 12, 2009

People are listening to the insurance companies that would love to keep gouging us and dumping us when we actually get sick. All we want is affordable health care (not free) with real coverage when we need it. How about having an option to keep the corporations honest and fair? Everybody knows someone who would like to be able to purchase health insurance but can't afford it. Come on America, we can do way better. The opponents are the insurance companies and the politicians taking huge money from them! ...more

November 12, 2009