Letters: Readers discuss CHIP funding, morality in government and raising the debt
Restore CHIP
As a pediatrician in the Kansas City area, I am writing to express my concern about the delay in the reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP.
CHIP benefits 9 million children nationwide and more than 79,000 children in Kansas. This program ensures that children who are not eligible for Medicaid but still need health insurance get access to the quality health care they deserve.
It helps children get access to different levels of care, including preventative-care visits, urgent-care visits and hospital stays.
Unfortunately, the authorization of CHIP recently lapsed, and Congress has yet to decide how to continue funding the program.
I’m concerned if there isn’t a solution to funding and reauthorization of the program soon that many children and families will be left without health insurance.
Our local government is already discussing plans for funding in case CHIP’s funds run out, but without that funding, children and their families will lose access to care.
Children are our future and deserve better.
I urge everyone to call, email or write to their legislators about the importance of a timely solution to funding and reauthorization of CHIP.
Morgan Eidson
Kansas City, Kan.
Almost condemned
The GOP has announced the sale of the last remnant of its moral high ground in Washington, D.C.
The estate has been largely vacant for some time. The parcel has been declared surplus to requirements, the last few residents having recently relocated to a newly enlarged tax shelter in a gated, high-security area.
The property is bordered by a steeply upward sloped supply side and a freshly restocked swamp. There is an entitlement neighborhood in the area, but it is being sold for future high-end development. This working-class area is expected to disappear entirely by 2027.
The moral high ground has been neglected for some time, but it is perfect for fixer-uppers and is close to transportation — a just-opened station on the expanding Gravy Train system.
Wayne Copple
Kansas City
Behind the mask
The Republicans have shown who they are, and it’s not pretty. They passed a tax bill that their rich benefactors (handlers) demanded. They confirmed this with their own words.
It is telling that they work behind closed doors in the dark of night and with no hearings, expert testimony or analysis.
None of them read the bill’s entire 500 pages, and when asked, they cannot say what is in the bill for sure.
Anyone who thinks Republicans are working for the good of America is not paying attention.
This legislation will exacerbate income inequality, give huge tax breaks to President Donald Trump and the 1 percent, bring tax increases to many in the middle and lower economic classes, decimate the health insurance market, add further tax burdens to Puerto Rico, balloon the deficit and lead to many other negative effects.
This trickle-down, voodoo, supply-side or whatever they want to name their tax policy never has and will never lead to long-term growth in jobs, investments or economic growth. What it will do is appease the Republicans’ real constituency: the 1 percent.
Everyone else is wasting their money “on booze or women or movies,” in the words of Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, and is not worth consideration.
Jerry Lee
Overland Park
Sworn duty
Eleven months ago, Donald Trump placed his hand on the Bible and swore to uphold, support and defend the Constitution. Since that time, he has repeatedly attacked the First Amendment, called the free press an “enemy of the people” and attempted to deny free speech rights to anyone he disagrees with, including NFL players.
It is the duty, above all others, of our elected officials to defend our rights against all threats, foreign and domestic. Anyone who has served in this country’s military has taken this oath and understands the responsibility it entails.
As Evelyn Beatrice Hall wrote in the spirit of Voltaire, and has as been echoed by President Ronald Reagan and many others: I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
Brad Keiser
Kansas City
Truth in labeling
It is estimated that the Republican tax cut will result in increased public debt of $1 trillion, so maybe it should have been called the “Borrow More Money Act.”
Bryce Kresie
Lenexa
This story was originally published December 25, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss CHIP funding, morality in government and raising the debt."