Don’t discriminate against spiritual care
To the editor:
While I appreciate the concerns raised in the editorial about the health care reform bill ("Gotta have faith," Monday), patients who choose spiritual care should not be discriminated against given that the goal is to insure all Americans.
In response to a government requirement that all Americans be insured, the Christian Science church requested an amendment. The intent is that insurance companies would not be able to preclude a spiritual prayer option as currently allowed by the IRS as a medical expense.
Aspects of spiritual care have been included in Medicare and Medicaid, and some government health insurance packages, as well as by some state and private carriers, for many years. Christian Science practitioner fees are quite modest in comparison to medical care, about $25 a day. These individuals are self-employed, not employed by a church, and this is their only vocation. Further, no church receives payment for prayer treatment. It is solely a health care choice made by the patient, many of whom are not church members.
As for the concern that this will open the flood gates for others, it won't. Because it would cover only IRS-approved medical expenses, payments would be authorized for Christian Science care and treatment, some American Indian care and holistic centers and a few others.
Christian Scientists have been active in Nevada for about 100 years. As a Christian Science practitioner, myself, I can attest to the effectiveness of prayer treatment in my own life and in the lives of others.
Everyone should have this option available to them if health care reform legislation passes.
Linda Vara
LAS VEGAS
THE WRITER IS A MEMBER OF THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION FOR NEVADA.
Don't blame dad
To the editor:
As a human being, I honor Andre Agassi for how he overcame his lack of judgment and climbed back to the top of his game. That and his founding and support for his charter school will assure him a special place in heaven.
But as a father, I wanted to cry when I read his condemnation of his father. If not for his father forcing him to practice -- and, yes, master tennis -- what would Mr. Agassi have done with his life? We can guess, or imagine, but what did he have going for him without tennis?
In his group of peers, it is common for far too many to hate their father for being too hard on them, for forcing them to learn something -- in the father's not-always-perfect manner -- that gives the youngsters the ability and drive to succeed. This is what fathers do, or should do. And Mr. Agassi's father, to his credit, did. He gave his son the tools he needed to become a millionaire. And thus he has become a good citizen.
If not for tennis, one wonders at which casino he would be parking cars.
William A. Wilderman
LAS VEGAS
Cost control
To the editor:
President Barack Obama and our Sen. Harry Reid both used the term "courageous" in describing the House of Representatives passing the health care reform bill last Saturday. Rep. Shelley Berkley, when greeted at the airport, likened the passage to the Civil Rights Act. What is she smoking?
Please tell me what is courageous about politicians going against the will of the people who elected them? Would not "arrogance" be a more descriptive word? Given the state of the economy, we could be a little kinder and say it was a "misguided effort" spending all that time and effort on something the majority of the people don't want and, if you believe the pundits, is dead on arrival when it reaches the Senate.
My representative, Dina Titus, was actually opposed to the bill before she voted for it. Isn't that reminiscent of John Kerry!
Let's have a show of hands of those who truly believe this monstrosity will be deficit neutral. The cost of Medicare, brought to us by LBJ's Great Society and War on Poverty, was underestimated only by a factor of 17. How many readers can fathom $20.4 trillion?
I don't know of a mathematician or economist who could figure out by how much Social Security was underestimated. What I do know is that both programs are going bankrupt and may take our country with them.
It's time to tell Sen. Reid to quit having closed-door meetings and kill this monster before it kills our economy.
Bill Mosley
HENDERSON
Tear down that wall
To the editor:
In regard to the recent article about the Berlin Wall being taken down 20 years ago:
I was just wondering if the two writers of that piece had read any history books.
Or was it deliberate that Ronald Reagan's name was never mentioned in the article? The writers did mention Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev and a few others.
I seem to remember that Mr. Reagan was a key person in this world-changing event.
T.J. Frey
LAS VEGAS
Good hands?
To the editor:
I need help. With Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid protecting me from the insurance industry; Al Gore from global warming; Chris Dodd and Barney Frank from the greedy banks; Janet Napolitano from the cartel; and labor leaders from big business; who is going to protect me from them?
The last I heard, they are all filthy rich thanks to money taken from those who work their buns off.
HANS BOHN
LAS VEGAS
