Winston-Salem Journal LTE TU 07/17/12

Remaining votes

Has it occurred to anyone that, aside from the questionable reasoning of Chief Justice John Roberts' deciding vote, of the remaining four votes to approve the constitutionality of Obamacare, three were the female justices (Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan)? Could there possibly be a "feminicity/compassionate" element in their rationale rather than "cold, hard, legal" judgment? (I don't know about Justice Stephen Breyer.)

Just wondering.

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GORDON DOLIBER

Lewisville

Credit tactics

Regarding the economic-incentives editorial ("Two-thousand jobs worth a heavy pitch," July 12) and CFS II, do we really want to pay our money to a company whose contribution to our well-being is to buy charged-off debt for pennies on the dollar and then try to collect the full amount (plus interest and fees) using its own agents?

Doesn't "charged-off" mean written off and already taken as a loss on the creditor's tax return? If $600 or more, hasn't the creditor notified the IRS and the debtor of the write-off as income to the debtor (Form 1099-C, Cancellation of Debt)? Probably yes.

What tactics does CFS II use that the credit-card company did not already use?

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LARRY B. COFFEY

Winston-Salem

For the common good

I was reared in an era when people were bound together by common circumstances and in a community where we looked after one another. If a neighbor was incapacitated, members of the community would mow his lawn and trim his hedges or harvest his hay before it was rendered useless by the elements. Without the benefit of a sophisticated knowledge of the U.S Constitution, we were still motivated to "promote the general welfare" by our acts of neighborly concern and understanding.

The phrase "for the common good" is a powerful concept that communicates the very best of human nature that knows consciously and unconsciously that we are all bound together by our need for community and mutual regard. With this phrase as a standard, I become very confused about the negative uproar over affordable health care. Those who find it so objectionable make no mention of the 30 million uninsured people in our nation. Our greatness as a nation is diminished every time a child does not receive the best possible treatment because of a pre-existing condition, when a person's insurance is canceled or a family must file for bankruptcy because of excessive medical expenses.

Remember that presidents since Theodore Roosevelt have been attempting to correct a less-than-desirable health-care system. What we have now is the most creative and courageous effort in over a century. With the political will and a concern for the common good, we can rectify any problematic features that exist with the present law.

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CHARLES FRANCIS WILSON

Winston-Salem

Health-care problems

I believe something needs to be done about the cost of health care. I do applaud the efforts of this administration to fix it, even though I don't think this health-care bill is the answer. But neither side of the argument seems to understand the problem with this bill.

First, all employers that have a few more employees than the maximum number to be considered exempt will probably lay off those extra workers before this law goes into effect. Since 85 percent of employed adults work for a small company, this will cause a massive jump in unemployment. Small businesses that can't meet the exempt status will be faced with either providing health care or paying large fines, neither of which most of us can afford.

Second, it doesn't work long term to continue subsidizing people who can, but won't, work and carry their own weight. This bill requires everyone else to pay their costs, thereby making it another big government entitlement program.

But neither is it true, as some Republicans are saying, that this is the largest middle-class tax increase ever. This is a disingenuous argument. There is no tax increase if you have health insurance. My taxes won't go up, because I already pay my own way.

It has been reported that 40 percent of the cost of health care is due to unnecessary procedures done to minimize potential lawsuits. The real solution to out-of-control spiraling costs is to enact tort reform and stop the frivolous malpractice lawsuits.

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DAVID F. MOSER

Winston-Salem