Can't afford the cuts
Our representatives' actions on Capitol Hill often seem contrary to Arkansans' needs, and the new Senate health-care bill is no exception.
Though the Senate proposal is more moderate than the House bill, it includes harsher cuts to Medicaid. Medicaid is jointly funded by federal and state governments, and is a huge component of Arkansas health care. Over a third of Arkansans are served by Medicaid, with 63.6 percent of that population under 18. Medicaid paid for 59.5 percent of all births in Arkansas in 2015. Under the Affordable Care Act, Arkansas expanded Medicaid, and saw the second-highest drop in the nation in uninsured population. This is an invaluable service to a state that consistently ranks among the poorest in the nation.
A coalition of 13 male Republican senators, including Sen. Tom Cotton, crafted a bill that, if passed, will result in a significant decrease in federal dollars for Medicaid recipients in Arkansas. This will decrease access to care for rural populations, women, children, people of color, and those of low socioeconomic status--groups already facing barriers to health-care access.
If one in three Arkansans rely on Medicaid for their health care, this is clearly not misplaced welfare. This is not a waste of state or federal funds. Health care is a basic human right that all Americans deserve.
This health-care bill would erase progress made under the ACA. Arkansas cannot afford to lose funding for Medicaid; Senators Cotton and Boozman should know that. But maybe they missed something ... why don't you give them a call?
GRACE TEDDER
Jonesboro
I'm not an 'Arkansan'
What happened while I slept? I am a natural-born "Arkansawyer." After being absent from this amazing and beautiful state for 30 years, I was taken aback to hear the media referring to us as "Ar-kansans."
I immediately took that as a dig at my heritage. Is there something about Kansas that makes people inferior to being called an Arkansawyer? Who decided being called an Arkansawyer implied a lower class of people? Kansas does not invoke a feeling of superiority. I have been there many times. They are people not unlike us.
It appears that to be called an Arkansawyer implies being a "rube."
I am proud to be called an Arkansawyer. Don't refer to me as being an Ar-kansan. I am from Arkansas (pronounced Ar-kan-saw), not from Ar-kansas!
SONNY STARNES
Hot Springs
The cost of groceries
I was really weary of reading all the politically toned letters on the Voices page, so I thought I would write about something that affects us all.
Are groceries really getting less expensive, as I occasionally read in the paper and hear on television? You can't prove it by me.
I recently sent a letter to the regional manager for a large grocery chain, pointing out some of the problems my wife and I have with the cost of groceries and his stores' coupon/discount program. I explained that, as retired seniors, my wife and I depended on coupons to help us bring down the cost of our necessary groceries, yet the coupons they send to us, those available online and those we find in the paper mainly cover cosmetics, products for pets, and items we do not normally purchase. In fact, I mentioned that our saved coupons had dwindled dramatically in the last six months. I have, by estimate, only about a third of the coupons available to use that I previously had.
He promptly sent me a very nice return letter acknowledging what I had written him, but he did not offer any remedies. I would urge everyone, and especially seniors, to write the grocery store or chain they buy from and let them know that seniors and others depend on lower prices and value for their money. It may not help much, but it may make you feel better, especially after you look at your last grocery receipt.
GEORGE WILKEN
Little Rock
The new Golden Rule
In the fight over the federal deficit, here's a loophole that needs closing: the foaming cataracts of cash pouring out of our economy by corporations diverting U.S. profits to untraceable offshore tax havens.
So before we talk about slashing essential programs for pre-K, health care, and the environment, let's talk about the vast rivers of revenue bleeding out of taxpayers' pockets.
Overall, U.S. corporations are estimated to have hidden $1.4 trillion in tax havens. Who can wrap their brain around so many zeros?
Our tax dollars pay for the roads and bridges over which business runs its trucks. The U.S. Navy secures shipping lanes through which corporations transport Chinese goods. The American legal system protects corporate patents and general stability. Yet corporations are allowed to dodge--and we're stuck with the tab.
True, the corporate tax rate is high at 35 percent. That has little practical meaning, though, thanks to the all-you-can-eat buffet of big-business tax breaks--subsidies, bailouts, exemptions, and writing off investment losses, to name a few. So the problem lies in the tax code. Plus what it took to get the code that way.
From Kennedy to Reagan--no thanks to Clinton and Bush 43--presidents and Congress have struggled to stanch this tidal wave. Lately it's the Democrats trying. Good luck with that, given the proposed cuts to the IRS.
Otherwise, we have us a new Golden Rule, articulated by an employee of one of the right-wing Scaife foundations: "Whoever has the gold rules."
ANITA SCHNEE
Fayetteville
Electrical grid worries
The shooting of the Republican lawmakers is a travesty. Maybe now there will be unity in both parties, and maybe Russia hacking won't be in the forefront. Maybe, maybe ... doubtful.
My concern is more along the lines of hacking. Granted, there was Russian interference, but did it alter the election results? I don't know. However, it appears to me that we should move forward. How about concentrating on pertinent problems such as taxes, health care and infrastructure?
I feel that a grossly overlooked problem is the electrical grid. I remember reading during the Obama administration how vulnerable we are if the grid is ever attacked. As far as I know this problem has never been addressed. I may be wrong.
However, stop and think and visualize the U.S. without electricity. Think about hacking. Hacking has become more sophisticated due to the advanced technology. What if the hackers would destroy the whole electric grid? Should we be concerned about this?
My concern is how we depend on electricity. Just thinking about what could happen if the electric grid would be made useless.
Before thinking that this couldn't happen, think how sophisticated hackers have become. I think it is problematic. I haven't heard from either party about this problem. What safeguards do we have?
However, all of this is above my pay grade.
EARL KENNEDY
Dover
Editorial on 06/26/2017