Traverse City Record-Eagle

Your Views

October 27, 2009

Letters to the Editor: 10/27/2009

Think twice

Social Security works. Medicare works. Medicaid works. You choose your doctors, you get the treatment you need. No questions are asked, no limits are set. I am an 87-year-old widow with serious pre-existing conditions, dependent on Medicare.

I also have a Blue Cross policy to cover what Medicare won't, and for hospital care -- Medigap, it's called. These programs should be expanded to include medications, as well as the inevitable dental care and eye and ear expenses.

Medicare D helped; my medication costs dropped from $12,000 per annum to $8,000 (It's called catastrophic). I fell into the infamous "doughnut hole" recently, and the medication that cost me $44 last month hit me for $266 this week. There are people who quit taking their meds when they hit The Hole. We need to fix this.

Many people are uninsured; there's always the emergency room. But if you have served on a hospital board, as I have, you would know that those who "can," pay for those who "can't." We need a better way.

Are you sure you want to do away with all the "socialist" programs? Social Security? Medicare? Medicaid? Head Start? Libraries in schools? Special Ed programs?

Think twice.

Mollie Rogers
Honor

Stop the Asian carp

There is an imminent danger threatening our Great Lakes -- one that requires immediate action if the Asian carp, an insidious species that can grow to four feet and 100 pounds, is to be prevented from entering Lake Michigan via the Chicago Sanitary Canal.

This invasive beast is characterized by a voracious appetite and aggressive behavior.

The Corps of Engineers has constructed two electrified barriers across the Chicago Sanitary Canal. Most recently, the carp have been discovered less than one hundred feet from the first barrier.

Running parallel to the Sanitary Canal is the Des Plaines River. The last week of September, Asian carp were observed in the Des Plaines River.

It would be a disaster of unimaginable proportions should characteristic autumn flooding allow these monsters -- who reproduce exponentially and devour whatever is available -- to enter Lake Michigan. Sport and commercial fishing would end for the foreseeable future.

The Corps of Engineers proposes sandbagging to act as a temporary defense against the carp escaping into the canal above the electric barrier, and have applied to Congress for funding. Phone your senators and your representative and tell them how important it is to authorize this funding to remedy this impending emergency.

Mary Lee Orr
Frankfort

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