Sunday, November 15, 2009

Family health costs are barely affordable

The United States needs to catch up to the rest of the industrialized nations of the world and offer health care that is affordable to its citizens. The insurance companies for too long have made billions on our misery. I have insurance through my employer -- Blue Cross Blue Shield -- not that it is very good. So far this year, including my insurance premiums, I have paid health care costs in excess of $12,000 -- and that does not including dental. No one in my family had a hospital stay or an accident. This is all prescription coverage, medical tests and doctor visits.

I gross $30,000 a year. If I wasn't married I would not be able to even think of affording health insurance and would not be able to get these preventive procedures.

Victoria Walker

Key West

Health care should be a right, not a privilege

Please abide by the American majority opinion and pass Medicare for all in the Congress. Health care insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies have gouged the American people and bribed members of the Congress for too long. Health care for all should be a right, not a privilelge.

Beth Rodriguez

Big Pine Key

Americans refrain from extremist behavior

After the horrible tragedy at Fort Hood, the massacre of many of our service men and women by one of our very own military members of the Muslim faith, I began to wonder.

What would happen if a member of our armed forces went in to a mosque here in the States and slaughtered 13 Muslims and wounded several others? Can you just imagine the outrage in the Muslim communities throughout the world? The condemnation of the United States, the rioting, the American flags burning, the attacks on our embassies, revenge killings, and the marches and protests right here on our own soil?

Where is the worldwide outrage and condemnation directed at the Muslims for this outrageous act of violence? This planned act of terrorism. Where is the rioting, looting, flag burning, and condemnation of Muslims right here in our own country?

Maybe it's just the way that we as Americans are brought up, and that's what makes America and our Christian faith and beliefs so wonderful and so different from the Muslim extremists' faith and beliefs.

I guess that's just one more reason why I'm proud to be an American and even more proud to be a Christian.

God bless America, and may God have mercy on the souls of those who have lost their lives defending our freedom and our way of life. ...

Dave Scott

Marathon

Workers can sue when displaced by illegals

For the last 20 some years, I have been employed in various positions in the hotel industry in Key West. It is a historical fact that the unemployment rate in Key West has been, for at least 20 years, half of that of the nation. It is surprising to see the wanted ads in The Citizen reduced to half a page with less than seven positions open for hotels and motels, and a very low rate of pay for those few openings.

In my opinion, the reason for this depression in the job market is not a decrease in business. The amount of visitors and room rates have steadily increased. But [it is] the illegal practice by some employers of using contract or logistical corporations to hire persons not authorized to legally work in the U.S., and by doing so saving large amounts of money in payroll taxes, insurance, and other benefits that legal workers are entitled to, and [that are] required by state and federal laws. This relationship between some hotel operators and these corporations constitute a conspiracy to defraud state and federal governments, [is] an assault on the rights of legal employees and a matter of national security, since the identity of these contracted employees is never verified.

Recently, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta upheld the rights of a group of employees of a business known as Mohawk Industries Inc. to file a lawsuit against their employer based on the fact that the company had hired undocumented workers as part of a conspiracy, for which the legal employees sought remedies under RICO laws. The plaintiffs claimed, among other things, that Mohawk Industries Inc. worked with various temporary employment agencies to form a criminal enterprise for the purpose of hiring illegal workers and reduce wages of its legal employees.

We live in a country of laws, but laws without enforcement are useless.

Gus Zapatero

Rockland Key