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YOUR LETTERS
Bankruptcy law should take illness into account; Health care, not sports, should be hospital priority
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Law should take illness into account
In 2005, a law was passed that made it tougher for Americans to eliminate their debts by simply filing bankruptcy. It was motivated, in part, by a concern over the escalating misuse of credit cards. The reckless spenders were playing an overly liberal system, and they needed to be stopped.
However, this overreaching bankruptcy law did not take into account the fact that roughly half of the 500,000 personal bankruptcy filings in America each year are caused by illness. These people are not playing the system. Most are hard-working Americans who are confronted with the reality of the aging process. There are very few people who are immune from facing financial hardship related to sickness in their families, no matter how financially secure they are at this moment. The 2005 bankruptcy laws must be amended immediately to exempt individuals struggling with a health care crisis.
This is one of the many reasons I am voting Democrat in November. The Obama campaign has proposed exempting individuals faced with illness and overwhelming health care costs. No doubt, Barack Obama was influenced by his mother's long battle with cancer and the financial fall-out that resulted.
In contrast, John McCain voted in favor of the 2005 bill. He also voted against a bill that would have exempted victims of Hurricane Katrina from the law's more punitive features.
America is ready for change; historically, America has thrived on change. That means that America is ready for Barack Obama.
Anne Howard
Lebanon
Health care, not sports, is priority
Re "Low health insurance caps hurt patients," July 14: People volunteer to work in hospitals; they donate body parts, blood and money to help patients in need of health care and health care funding. It's hard to understand then why the hospitals don't do the same thing, such as donating millions of dollars to patients in need instead of donating to school sport arenas.
Health care should be their priority, not sports.
Charles Curtis
New Lebanon
