LETTERS: Obamacare’s expectations delusional

I wish to address a couple of points in David Adams' letter, "Logic doesn't add up in Obamacare dissent," a response to the Nov. 23 Review-Journal editorial on Obamacare.

Mr. Adams states the president didn't take into account the policies that affected lifetime coverage caps, and that's why the statement, "If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance," turned out to be false. Is Mr. Adams stating that President Obama and his staff didn't know what was contained in this legislation? He also states that no one expected rates to fall due to the new law. Really?

He might want to go to www.whitehouse.gov, where a few years ago the question was asked, "Will my premiums/costs go up due to Obamacare?" The White House answered, "No." Delusional?

Mr. Adams states that costs are not going up as fast as they did prior to Obamacare. Yes, costs have done so for the past 14 years, with the highest annual increase at about 14 percent and the lowest at about 3 percent. But the increases for 2015 are staggering, ranging from 20 percent to over 60 percent. One reason for cost increases: The insured now have to pay for services they do not want or need.

The law failed to address the major causes of health insurance premium increases: supply/demand for services; drug costs, because lawmakers allowed domestic producers to charge what they wished with no competition; more sophisticated testing, which comes with higher costs; no national competition for insurance companies; and no tort reform.

It's interesting to note that of those who had no health insurance prior to the new law's approval, for whatever reason, only 25 percent now have insurance. Glad we had to disrupt a sector that accounts for 17 percent of the economy for such an underwhelming response. Was the president ill-informed, an outright liar or just delusional? Given Mr. Obama's responses to ISIS, my guess is delusional.

Michael A. Donnelly

Las Vegas

Editorial relevance

Friday in Colorado, there was another mass shooting. This time three people were killed and nine were wounded. The Review-Journal's Saturday editorial piece was about the minimum wage. You really have your thumb on the pressing issues of the day, don't you?

Michael Henderson

Las Vegas

Freedom loses

Columnist Steve Sebelius is right on the money when he argues the "safe space" movement breeds young adults incapable of dealing with anything remotely hurtful to their fragile feelings ("Beware the safe spaces," Nov. 22 Review-Journal).

However, this pressure to blot out perceived "microaggressions" (can we get any more Orwellian?) is far more insidious. What happens on college campuses does not stay there, and these infantile demands for safe spaces, trigger warnings, etc., may eventually metastasize into the cancer of fascism. It infects our entire society, such that censorship becomes acceptable, whether by law or social norm.

Civil society, way beyond this movement of petulant, spoiled youth, is in danger when our very freedom of speech is threatened. We must push back with bold speech.

Ellen Shaw

Henderson

Uber's sway

I'm a longtime resident, and I remember many attempts by individuals or companies trying to receive a license for a cab company, all to no avail.

I'm trying to figure out how Uber and Lyft have been able to do what they have accomplished. A Monday Review-Journal headline read, "County expected to reconsider $25 annual business fee: Uber brings pressure over licensing of drivers." Why should a startup company in this city bring pressure to our commissioners?

I'm going to hire Uber's lawyers when I need one.

Charles Berberian

Las Vegas

Kalas' function

I want to add my voice to the requests to bring back Steven Kalas. It is so important in this day and age for all of us to take time to remember that all the people of the world are so much more the same than we are different. Mr. Kalas gives us that moment with his column, "Human Matters." For peace to come to this world, we, as individuals, need to recognize and embrace this concept.

The only bias I find in his column is that he's a diehard Green Bay Packers fan. As a diehard Denver Broncos fan, I can live with that. Please bring him back.

Frances Trembly

Henderson

Forgetting veterans

I hope all the disabled veterans and people on Social Security enjoy the holiday season without an increase in payments for the second year in a row. When a country forgets its veterans and elderly, what kind of country is left? Check your history books.

Jim Armbrust

Las Vegas