Letters to the editor for Sunday, July 9, 2023

This must never happen again

Last month I traveled through Germany, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The scars of World War II are everywhere. Seeing the parade grounds and the courthouse in Nuremberg, the Jewish graveyard in Budapest, the concentration camp at Dachau, and learning about the utter destruction suffered by city after city, we wondered how people in such civilized societies could let this horror happen? What impressed us most, however, was that people talked openly about what happened and insisted “this must never happen again!” They teach their children in school about the war and the Holocaust. But as I listened about the rise of Nazism and the laws it passed, red flags were flashing in my mind about what is happening in our own country. The Nazis passed laws that banned books, limited women’s reproductive rights, deported immigrants, attacked the media, discriminated against gays and people of color, were violently antisemitic, restricted people’s right to demonstrate or protest. All of these are happening in Florida and America right now. Europeans asked us “How can the American people let this happen?” Democracy is fragile and we are blessed to live in a society that respects the rights of all people. The worst happened in Europe, and It can happen here if we are not vigilant. Don’t look the other way, turn off the news or close out reality. Speak up and remember to vote for people who support our values of equality for all. Now is the time to protect our nation.

Joanne Huskey, Naples

The world as it should be

Out of the mouths of babes. A six-year-old teaches his grandmother what it means to be “colorblind.”

During the July Fourth holiday, my daughter’s family visited. They were staying at a beachfront hotel in Naples. I was at the pool minding my two grandsons, Oliver, 10, and Cade, 6. At a certain moment Cade came to where Oliver and I were seated and told us that one of the men in the pool had kindly offered to let Cade borrow his football so he and Oliver could play catch on the beach. Oliver looked to the pool and asked, “Which guy?” Cade pointed to where approximately six men (five white and one Black) were gathered. Cade answered, “The guy in the Marlins cap.” I don’t know if it was a generational thing, evidence of a well-mannered child, or the hallmark of a highly evolved awareness, but what struck me was Cade’s colorblindness, for the man in the Miami Marlins cap was the lone Black person in the pool. I was both surprised and delighted that what this six-year-old thought was the single most identifying feature of this man was not his significantly darker skin, but which baseball team cap he sported. The world as it should be…

Paula Blackman Iacampo, Bonita Springs

Basic costs to giving birth

Thank you for bringing the reality of living prices to the table, with your article on basic costs to giving birth in the State of Florida. The charge for an uninsured patient or one who will be delivering in an out-of-network hospital is $31,983 for a vaginal delivery. A C-section is $41,299. This is for the birth only, not for extended aftercare, which may be needed.

The woman who is uninsured becomes a mother in debt, the moment  she leaves the hospital. That’s the reality she will live with every single day.

Maureen Trerice, Naples

Is America broken?

The prophetic parable of "None are so blind as those who will not see" accurately describes America today. With the radical Left using the mainstream media as a blindfold to shield the truth and an aged leader at the helm, many things go awry and problems abound. With illegal immigrants and homeless filling city streets, crime is rampant as liberal courts release murderers and prosecute heroes; justice is two-faced as the Bidens and Clintons remain free while Trump may be going to jail; schools are failing because woke teachers disdain parents' rights; female athletes must compete  with transgender males; the president accuses the Supreme Court of civil rights violations; Dems and media label all Republicans racist, antisemitic and homophobic. This "America is broken" list goes on and on, ad infinitum.

America's story is still being written but communist China has already composed the final chapter and it's not pleasant. Consequently, the 2024 election should be a referendum on candidate physicality and mental acuity. But first, dwell on this grim scenario. Should the sparring with Russia, China and Iran heat up and nuclear missiles fill the sky, do we want a Caspar Milquetoast like Biden as Commander in Chief? He bungled Afghanistan and Putin invaded the Ukraine on his watch. Conversely, Trump may be a loose cannon but is a George Patton clone, not intimidated by any adversary.

Because of their hatred of Donald Trump, Democrats are willing to keep an inept and decrepit Biden in office despite his incessant mumbling, stumbling and falling. He cannot answer a simple query without a script. More troubling is his bias. He put the nation in jeopardy by selecting his V/P based on skin pigmentation rather than ability.

Unity in America is long past. No longer does everyone stand for the national anthem and fewer are enlisting in the military. The nation is split asunder as liberals seek a social revolution while conservatives strive for sanity and stability. As a result, the Left's phantom straw men are unable to fix the Humpty Dumpty mess they have created.

Is this a biased or a valid requiem? As always, only time will tell.

Gerald Ponder, Cape Coral

Can't be both Christian, nationalist

I recently read an article where Marjorie Taylor Green (MTC) called herself a “Christian Nationalist.”

Based  on my limited understanding, Christians should love and respect everybody. Nationalists only love and respect people who belong to their own “tribe.”

Either you are a Christian or you are a nationalist; you cannot be both.

Charles Lacy, Naples

My debt is my obligation

When our two grandchildren were born, I set up 529 accounts to fund their post secondary education. Unfortunately, their father died of leukemia when the children were 7 and 2. My daughter has remained a single mother who has done a great job but works for a school district so there is not a lot of extra money for post secondary education. Thus, I increased our funding into the 529s to relieve her financially and to have the children avoid student loans. Even so, my grandchildren work to help pay for their education.It never occurred to me through the years that if my grandchildren took out student loans, one political party would try to cancel the debt they owed. I am from a generation that understood that if you borrowed money, you repaid it. Perhaps the world has changed. Some feel not paying is only fair as colleges and universities charge “too much.” Others think it is fair as the jobs they have taken after college “don’t pay enough.” Others think it is fair because repaying a loan is racist as it penalizes minorities.No matter what the excuse is for not paying, I continue to believe there is a moral obligation to do so. The loans are not made from money I own. They are made from the backing of the federal government which is really all of us. The money paid out in loans has already been spent.

So should the borrower pay back the loan because he/she got the benefit of the loan or should the rest of us pay the loan even though we did not get the benefit? If people who have worked all their lives knew that student loans were actually “free money,” would they have taken out loans and done something different with their lives other than go to work and pay taxes? Would the states have set up student loan programs to administer the funds and bear that cost? Did the borrower understand that their job after college needed to pay enough to service the student loan debt? Perhaps they should have gone to trade school or studied accounting rather than some of the majors that universities offer.Life is not always fair and safety nets are not always there should we make wrong choices. My problems are my problems, not my neighbors'. My neighbors can be supportive and help me think of ways to pay off my debt but my debt is my obligation. Why should my obligation be imposed on them? That is the fundamental moral question.

Chris Corrie, Bonita Springs

Welcome to the real world

Once again, the press and media give us a half-truth. The Supreme Court did not deny student loan forgiveness. They just said the executive branch does not have the power to unilaterally spend taxpayer money in this way. If President Biden wants to forgive student loans, he must get a bill through Congress.The Supreme Court did not let anybody down. The progressives led the student borrowers on by making a promise the president admitted was very shaky. If anyone let them down, they did. And what about the tens of millions of taxpayers who won't have to absorb the costs of loans they had nothing to do with. Pretty sure they don't feel let down. What happens next: Three years of loan payments frozen is/was an amazing gift. You should be thankful you got to pass on them for that long. Now student borrowers get to pay back their debt just like everyone else before this mess started. Time to be a responsible adult. Welcome to the real world.

Lou Walker, Cape Coral

Biden and the Democrat agenda

After reading "Biden sits down for rare interview," I am left scratching my head about what Biden actually said. Admittedly, I didn’t watch the interview. But it seems the questions asked got more coverage than his answers which seemed mostly short and lacked any depth. And of course no AP article would be complete without the obligatory dig on Trump. Trump answered any question anyone asked him anytime, including networks that were unfriendly to him such as in a recent CNN townhall. To say that Trump got softball questions compared to Biden would be funny if it wasn’t so dangerous to continually prop up a president with clear cognitive dysfunction as the media has done. As far as I can tell, the purpose of the interview was to continue the Democrats' attempts to delegitimize the SCOTUS after it rendered decisions that put a wrench in the Democrat agenda. They can no longer legislate from the bench, which is a problem for them since they can’t pass their crazy agenda in Congress.Allison Spataro, Naples

Ammo made of gold

Politics is about give and take, compromise, concession and reward.  You want this and I want that, so I’ll give you this if you give me that.  That’s, at least, the way it used to work.  Not so much anymore.  Hyperpartisan politics has invaded logic, reason, morals, trust, and truth.  Although, I think I have a solution to the wide gap between the conservative quest for guns and the liberal quest for societal safety.

Assuming the Second Amendment guarantees a citizen’s right to own a gun, it appears that conservatives want everyone to own them and they are willing to sacrifice souls to protect that right.  On the other hand, liberals are willing to restrict this right in order to save souls.  That’s a wide gap to bridge!

Although, there may be a way to satisfy both sides.  A bipartisan bill should be submitted, approved, and placed into law that removes all restrictions on the purchase and possession of all firearms -- zero, none, nada, zilch restrictions!  Your toddler would be able to own a gun!  The second part of the law would require all ammunition to be manufactured using solid 24 karat gold.  Of course, there would be an exemption for a well regulated militia!

This law would be a win, win, win!  First, liberals would be happy because the vast majority of Americans couldn’t afford to buy this ammunition and most people who could afford it wouldn’t want to use it due to its high present and future value.  Consequently, gun violence would greatly diminish, saving souls. Voila!

Secondly, conservatives would be happy because they would have preserved their perceived constitutional right to gun ownership.  Additionally, they would be among the small percentage of wealthy Americans who would still be able to afford to buy ammunition.  Voila!

Thirdly, we the people would be happy because once again it would be safe to send our children off to school, go shopping, attend concerts and religious services, dine in restaurants, and drive or walk down the street.  Voila!

Jay Custa, Estero

Criminalizing speech

Oklahoma vs Florida. Both these states are run by right-wing Republicans but there is a difference. In Oklahoma where officials in one county talked of lynching Black people and killing reporters the state attorney general said officials frequently make inflammatory comments but no law punishes inflammatory speech. In Florida our fascist governor decided to remove an elected county attorney for saying he would not enforce a law but never actually did anything. Criminalizing speech is a disastrous road to follow in a democracy. We should all reject this idea and this governor.

Albert King, Naples

Ethnicity or skills

We've been hearing and reading a lot lately about  the importance of diversity in the workplace and in colleges.  Can you imagine an orchestra composed of "diverse" musicians  based on their ethnicity rather than on their skills?  The result would be a disastrous cacophony.

This is just  one example of why social maneuvering doesn't work.

Marian Lauck, Naples

Macron at concert

I hear that the French are protesting that Macron went to a concert whilst his city was burning. Were they protesting the fact that he went to a concert or that it was an Elton John concert, which is perfectly understandable?

Michael Adler, Miromar Lakes

Supreme Court was right

The recent Supreme Court decision has liberals and minorities with their panties all bunched up. Let's make this easy. There were millions of U.S. citizens who made grades in high school to allow them to pursue a college education, some received scholarships for sports or just because they're smart, no one sees anything wrong with this. If you are talented and the college wants you it doesn't matter what race you are. The people who are not that fortunate have to pay their own tuition, either through help from family, through having to work your way through, by serving in the military and yes from having to borrow money. For the millions who have had student loans and have paid them off, or are still paying them off, this decision is the right one. Why should any student with an unpaid loan or a new loan expect payment from the taxpayers. How can we pay for all of the loans that were already paid off to be fair with the one's who seek this loan forgiveness. This is just plain stupid to expect me to pay for your college education. The Supreme Court was right. Remember all men are created equal under the Declaration of Independence. Now good old Joe is looking for other ways for taxpayers to foot the bill. How about get these colleges with large endowments to foot the bill. Novel idea! Please use your brain and vote the most corrupt administration out of office while we still are able to live in a just society where all are created equal and you advance in life according to your merits and not someone else's.

Robert Reeves, Naples

Transparency in health care

There's a prevailing misapprehension within the health care sector that insurance companies have the authority to negotiate lower service charges with health care providers on behalf of their insured members. It's essential to set the record straight: it is, in reality, the end consumers of goods and services who possess the sole authority to negotiate price reductions.

The primary role of insurance companies within this context is not to meddle with pricing but to negotiate the reduction of debts they are obligated to fulfill. These debts originate from the total amounts billed to their insured members, who are legally bound to settle these charges.

In the intricate dynamics of the health care industry, insurance companies strategically select their in-network providers. The criterion for this selection primarily hinges on the health care providers' willingness to absolve a portion of these debts. The insurance companies then exercise their influence over their members' choice of providers. They manipulate the co-payment structures, reducing them for in-network services and elevating them for out-of-network services. This practice, which amounts to a form of economic coercion, effectively sways patients towards certain providers and away from others.

A common practice within the industry is to record this debt write-off, not as a cancelled debt as it should be, but as a contractual adjustment. This is not merely a semantic issue. The distinction is crucial because it has serious tax implications. A cancelled debt is a taxable entity, both for the insurance company and the health care provider.

Moreover, it's vital to add that this cancelled debt is essentially a kickback. A kickback is a return of money previously paid out, usually unbeknownst to the payer, creating a potential conflict of interest or undercutting fair competition. In this case, the health care providers give the insurance company a kickback in the form of the cancelled debt. And just like the insurance company, the provider is also legally obliged to pay taxes on this kickback.

From the perspectives of a tax lawyer, a prosecutor, an economist, and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), this practice is concerning. Not only does it involve potential violations of fair trade and consumer rights, but it also has potential legal and tax implications. The misclassification of cancelled debts as contractual adjustments allows these entities to evade the tax liabilities they should rightly incur.

Given these issues, there is a pressing need for increased transparency within the health care industry. Consumers must be given the right to negotiate their prices, and strict adherence to tax laws should be enforced. By doing so, we can work towards an equitable health care system that respects both consumer rights and legal obligations.

Roy J. Meidinger, Fort Myers

Hypocrisy of the Left

After the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, President Biden ranted about how disgusting the ruling was and also proceeded to attack the legacy issue where colleges admit relatives of former graduates or donors. Turns out he used his influence to get his granddaughter into the University of Pennsylvania and then named the president of the university as the ambassador to Germany. Very typical hypocrisy of the Left. I also find it amusing that when a left wing group sued Harvard over their legacy practices, they alleged that this resulted in white students being admitted who were less academically qualified than a Black student. Isn't this precisely what happened in reverse under affirmative action? In addition, what is totally lost in this whole situation is that the end result of affirmative action in college admissions was discrimination against Asian students.

Ron Wobbeking, Naples

Drag shows: I don't get it

For the life of me I don't understand the appeal of "drag show" people wanting to display their craft in front of audiences under 18 years old.

I don't understand why some parents are miffed their children cannot be in the audience.  Maybe someone can explain this to me?

Sharon Heard, North Fort Myers

Women should make decision

Thanks to those who cast votes for the orange, indicted loser, three ultra-conservative judges were seated and the results of their selections have been realized by their woeful decisions. Overturning Roe v Wade was extremely unpopular and those same three judges lied to the senators during confirmation hearings when asked their views on this subject. They all claimed they would not interfere with the 50-year-old precedent. Since this monumental decision, dozens of red states immediately passed legislation making abortion illegal along with making it difficult to obtain day-after medication. Here in Florida the time limit for such decisions has been reduced to six weeks -- thanks to our governor and his gerrymandered legislators.

I know this subject is extremely sensitive to voters but the majority of the same decree disagree with the findings. Women, and only women, can make these determinations.

So those that think their vote doesn’t count or abstain from voting at all, seriously think again.

Glenn Chenot, Cape Coral

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Sunday, July 9, 2023