Letters to the Editor

I apologize to Tom Shea for my redundant letters rebutting Neil Davis’s letters. I’m getting tired of writing them, too, but I’m also tired of the relentless Tea Party propaganda and feel that both sides of the issues should be addressed.

I was wondering if the Gothenburg Times might provide Neil A. Davis and Penny Fattig with each other’s address, so they might correspond directly to each other and spare us reading their redundant bickering via The Times. They are sounding like two adolesents on the playground. If I can’t be quarterback, I’ll take my ball and go home.

My last letter has been distorted by the Nebraska state president of the AARP.

His “party line dogma” and wrongheaded assertions do not follow his own request, from in his last letter to the editor, to “cut the spin and have an honest conversation about…Medicare.”

So let’s have that “honest conversation.” Let’s start with AARP’s motivation for supporting a health care plan that will bankrupt the already fragile economy, drive doctors away from providing care to seniors and cause hospitals, many in small communities, to close.

Why is Mr. Eppler and the AARP so high on “reducing bloated subsidies to private Medicare Advantage plans”? Well according to a report to the House Ways and Means Committee entitled, The AARP America Doesn’t Know, it’s about making lots of money.

As Medicare Advantage is phased out, Medigap sales will necessarily increase. And according to this report, “This will have a direct, significant and positive impact on the future profits at AARP.”

The report continues, “The Democrats’ health care law, which AARP strongly endorses, could result in a windfall for AARP that exceeds over $1 billion during the next 10 years.”

So now it appears that “strengthening Medicare for today’s seniors and future generations” is not the real story. It’s really about strengthening the AARP.

Now let’s “cut the spin.” Eppler doesn’t believe that a “bribe” could happen. He misrepresented my letter saying that I “refer(s) to a purported ‘bribe’ in the Affordable Care Act.” This is not correct. I was talking about Ben Nelson, before there was Obamacare.

Ben Nelson took a “hand-out,” an “inducement,” a “carrot,” a “sweetener,” a ”kickback,” whatever you want to call it. To “entice,” “persuade,” “buy off” or “induce,” however you want to say it, him to be the 60th vote that gave America Obamacare. Ben Nelson, therefore, personally gave us the un-affordable care act, that a super majority of voters in America did not want.

That quid pro quo: Ben Nelson’s vote for a, yet seen, $17 billion payment to Nebraska (the Cornhusker Kickback) is what stinks about Washington.

Mr Eppler’s, statement on how the ACA will, “…Change how Medicare pays doctors and hospitals…,” shows that he doesn’t understand what’s at stake.

Mr. Eppler asserted, in his last letter, the ACA was needed, “(to) extend the solvency of the Medicare Part A…”. In an Aug. 4 editorial, the Wall Street Journal clearly states the opposite. In part it said that, “Medicare’s Prospective payments are low enough that further reductions may jeopardize access to care and in many cases threaten the viability of hospitals.”

Obamacare may very well kill small town hospitals and will drive doctors from providing care to seniors. Certainly, it will make it nearly impossible for small communities to recruit newer physicians to replace the aging doctor population. Why do so many voters in the U.S. understand this and you and the AARP don’t? Oh that’s right…$1 billion over the next 10 years. No “spin,” just facts.

Barack Obama went to Cairo and gave a phony baloney speech, then put in place programs totally to the contrary (just as he does in this country). People there were upset. I pointed out this duplicity in my letter(s), which began a bizarre obsession with a premise that I opposed Obama’s cutting funds to Egypt. Even though I oppose most everything Obama does, that was not in my letter(s). I don’t see what’s so difficult to decipher.

If you want to understand my term “terrorist buddies” of Obama, all you have to do is look at each of the world’s conflicts and see which side Obama supports. This isn’t rocket science. The plan to eliminate bin Laden was in place before Obama became president. When he needed a boost in the polls, they woke him up in the middle of the night, so he could watch it on TV.

Penny Fattig and Glenn Bartels believe the two parties should work together for the good of the country. I don’t know how many people consider themselves Democrats in this country. In congress, Democrats are virtually non-existent. I believe that Republicans should be fighting tooth and nail to prevent further usurpation of our freedoms by progressives/socialists.

Example: both parties just worked together on (debt reduction) legislation that increases our debt by 7-10 trillion dollars. Afterwards, Obama was crowing about all the spending he has planned. Standard & Poor’s downgraded our credit rating.

Penny wrote “Obviously, gridlock is not a good thing.” Gridlock is what keeps mental patients like Rep. Mike Doyle (D) in check. Here’s his statement about tea partiers. “This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money.” LOL

It is no surprise that AARP Nebraska president, Robert Eppler (08-03 letter), is bad-mouthing private Medicare Advantage plans. They are AARP’s biggest competitor. He forgot to mention that they spent over $43 million lobbying the passage of Obamacare. It cuts the “bloated subsidies” away from seniors to fund what talk show host Andrew Wilkow termed, Obama’s “zero liability voters.”

AARP comes to the rescue with lower quality care and rising costs by government fiat. Obamacare throws seniors under the bus and AARP is driving the bus. Surprise! Surprise! Crony capitalism allowed AARP to join over 1,400 businesses in getting a waiver from Obamacare!

Obamacare is already cutting the reimbursement of physicians who see Medicare patients, causing a reduction in the numbers they will take and even causing some to leave their practice. As someone who opposes entitlements in the first place, I think it’s stupid to employ government run healthcare which drives the best and brightest out of business. The competition of free market capitalism ensures the best care at the lowest price.

Which would you rather be paying for, a personal quality doctor or the slop at AARP’s hog trough?

What if Ben Nelson would have voted against the health bill? Perhaps we would be talking about real healthcare reform.