Killing Obamacare a step backward

Judging from recent letters to the Review-Journal, there seems to be a lot of misinformation about the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

When Congress and the new administration kill the ACA, seniors will lose big time. If people did just minimal research they would find that before the ACA was passed they paid 100 percent of the cost for prescription drugs when they reached the so-called donut hole. And they reached that donut hole much sooner before the ACA was put into effect.

Part of the benefit to seniors was that the donut hole would shrink a little every year — and this will also disappear when they kill the ACA.

What do you think will happen to all the preventative care benefits such as vaccines, mammograms, heart screenings, cancer screening and the rest? “Best practices,” a system that finds what works and doesn’t work to keep people healthy, will also disappear. The ratings and checks/balances systems for insurance companies, medical groups and doctors is out too. Medicare fraud was also rampant prior to the ACA.

Going backward is just stupid. Quit believing all the propaganda.

Richard W. Munk

Las Vegas

Local zoo

In response to the Dec. 14 Review-Journal letter to the editor about the animal farm in Moapa: We have plenty of subsidies to finance a new football stadium, but nothing for a zoo.

Las Vegas is striving to be a major city like New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. Well, all those cities have many similar attractions that major cities should have, including a zoo. Las Vegas, thanks to Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick, lost its zoo in Moapa. The zoo on Rancho closed several years ago. The zoo in Moapa tried, but it closes soon.

Like I said, bureaucracy rules over community needs.

Bob Goldstein

Las Vegas

No sympathy

I read in the Review-Journal last week that taxicab business in Clark County was down more than 19 percent in November from the same time last year. I was very happy to hear this statistic.

That may sound harsh, but as a local resident since 1973, I have followed with disdain the saga of taxi companies being sued, fined and maligned over their business practices. Their “unspoken” policies involve long-hauling customers and charging fees for customers who use credit cards. In addition, the general rudeness of drivers has long been a source of irritation to me.

My husband and I travel fairly often, and over the years, there have been many times we have attempted to call a cab to pick us up at our home and take us to the airport. First of all, they will not schedule a pick-up time — and, frankly, you are lucky if they will pick you up at all. I have waited anxiously for a cab to arrive only to have a driver take more than an hour to get to my house. On the trip home, once they find out you are a local, you are treated so rudely that it almost makes you want to just get out and walk.

Oftentimes the drivers and their cabs are dirty, smell like smoke and are ill-kempt.

Frankly, I think the cab companies are getting exactly what is coming to them — and it is long overdue. The ride-sharing companies will schedule pick-ups, they drive new, clean vehicles and I have never encountered an Uber or Lyft driver who was not friendly and happy that you called him.

Catherine Luce

Las Vegas

Easy fix

The “sanctuary city” problem, in my mind, has a very simple and easy fix. When an illegal commits a crime of any kind in one of these places, the governor, mayor and anyone involved in making that city a “sanctuary” should stand trial along with the criminal and receive the same punishment.

I think you would see a rapid change of thinking by these people.

If you harbor these criminals, knowing they are illegally in this country, you become responsible for what they do.

Karl Farkas

Henderson