Metro plan for contract negotiations a loser

To the editor:

It was discouraging to read that a Nevada Senate committee approved an amendment authorizing the Las Vegas police union to negotiate its contracts directly with the sheriff. The Clark County and Las Vegas representatives who actually have to fund the Police Department would be cut out of the contract negotiations.

I am a police supporter, but it is a terrible idea to have the sheriff negotiate contracts for the police. He is a policeman, and as such should automatically be disqualified from being the sole arbiter. Since the sheriff is not responsible for funding the police, he would have no motivation to control costs. No single person should be given such authority.

A few years back, Metro initiated and got passed an increase in the sales tax to fund additional police. In doing so, it bypased the Clark County Commission. Now Metro is again trying to usurp the prerogatives of our elected representatives. This insanity should be stopped.

Richard N. Fulton

HENDERSON

Single payer

To the editor:

Larry Kudlow, in his Sunday op-ed, "Public health plan will bankrupt us," proves only that he is woefully ignorant of the realities of our present health care system.

Mr. Kudlow asks rhetorically, "Can anyone name a federal program that cut costs for anything?" Obviously he is ignorant of the Medicare overhead of 1 percent to 2 percent versus the 15 percent to 25 percent for private plans. He laments government "gatekeepers," but ignores the gatekeepers for private insurers who worry more about profits than the health of the insured.

The truth is seniors close to 65 often wait to have necessary surgery, denied by their private insurers, until they are covered by Medicare.

It has been reported that Duke Hospital -- with about 900 beds -- has hundreds of clerks on staff to collect bills. This outrage is a product of our present system.

Physicians who favor a single-payer system estimate the savings in paperwork and bureaucracy under such an approach could be as much as $300 billion a year. This is an amount that could make insurance available to most of the uninsured without any increase in costs.

Our health care crisis will not go away. Unfortunately, Mr. Kudlow adds nothing to the debate except to repeat the discredited rhetoric of the private health care lobby.

Irwin kaugman

LAS VEGAS