Insurer, provider must end dispute Letter: Hospital, health insurer need to solve dispute

Insurer, provider must end dispute

When The Free Lance-Star published an article Jan. 5 regarding Mary Washington Healthcare and Anthem's contract dispute, I was astounded yet again. The continuing inability of health care providers and insurers to resolve the issues which affect the lives of many is disturbing.

I doubt any customer is concerned about which side harbors most of the blame; most would just appreciate the two sides truly realizing the harm this does to individuals and the community - and fix it.

In addition to the health risks to every customer, federal employees and retirees are at an additional disadvantage in that if they cancel their federal insurance to find other providers, that coverage can never be reinstated. Seniors are particularly disadvantaged as traveling to other areas to obtain care can be exhausting and expensive as well as producing additional anxiety over individual health issues.

Providers should be required to honor the contracts they negotiate; and perhaps by making that a requisite, more attention would be paid before agreements are finalized.

The squeeze of services and inhumanity this dispute has created should have all of us question the ethics of every provider who puts its patients at risk over the bottom line.

Lives should never be for sale.

Kay Blythe

Fredericksburg

Skilled hunters necessary to thin deer herd

In response to the Jan. 27 letter about how awful the picture of a person's proud deer kill was, I completely understand fully how those faint of heart feel, but one also has to understand that knowing how to hunt and make a clean kill is a needed skill many don't have and is something to be very proud of.

Look at it this way, instead of a picture of a proud, skilled hunter, you could be seeing pictures of sick and dying animals with less habitat due to overpopulation of areas, like mine is becoming, and dying and injured animals on the side of the road from car accidents. A clean harvest controlling the population is the best and most humane way to have a controlled and healthy wildlife population.

One must look beyond their bleeding hearts and look at the big picture. Those killed on the road are just as dead and probably suffered, whereas the animal killed by the hunter didn't suffer and will be consumed as food. Be thankful we still have some skilled hunters in our area.

Linda Homan

Spotsylvania

Arts center is the wrong place for a drag workshop

The Arts Center in Orange is a nonprofit corporation with a board of directors comprising some of our community's finest members. The Arts Center has been a valuable asset to our school system for many years. The Arts Center is a well-financed organization that the community expects to conduct itself responsibly. According to tax filing, the Arts Center has assets close to a million dollars and gross receipts in excess of a quarter of a million dollars each year. Most of the nonprofits in Orange dream of having a similar bottom line.

For the Arts Center to be unaware of the gender controversy in our school system is unbelievable. In the last year, the school board has heard hours and hours of public comments on how to address gender identity. Last June, a lawsuit based on gender identity was filed in Orange County Circuit Court against this school board, and to this day, that filing in Circuit Court remains unresolved.

According to Google, "drag is a gender-bending art where a person dresses in different types of clothing and makeup to exaggerate a gender identity, often of the opposite sex." A drag workshop is akin to having a blackface workshop. Both are usually seen as performances for people's entertainment. I consider both in bad taste, if not immoral.

The Arts Center is indeed not deaf, dumb and blind. Therefore, one must conclude that the Arts Center's decision to hold a learn about the art of drag workshop was a conscious decision on the part of the Arts Center. The Arts Center's decision to insert itself into a sensitive political issue is inexcusable.

Jim Hopkins

Orange County School Board

Locust Grove

Appreciating excellence of city's teachers

A day before the celebration of our beloved Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday, a full-page advertisement ran in The Free Lance-Star that showcased the Fredericksburg City School system, under the leadership of the prestigious Dr. Marceline Catlett.

The ad showed the 2023 recipients of the Teaching in Excellence Award. It was so beautiful to witness the pictures of each award winner, school by school. Each held a bouquet of flowers that further exemplified their beauty.

This must radiate throughout their classrooms and school buildings, and it now shines bright into our hearts, minds and the comfort of the homes of those of us who daily read the FLS.

Dr. King raised his voice across our nation, speaking truth and serving as a living example of how ordinary people with a passion can make life better, can make a difference, beyond their daily existence.

The Fredericksburg City Schools Teacher of Excellence Award winners are yet another example of this living truth.

Let us together raise our voices and state, "Forever Grateful."

Paulette Johnson

Stafford

MWHC should put its patients first

Concerning the contract dispute between Mary Washington Hospital and Anthem Blue Cross, I know that there are many, many people in this area covered under Anthem Blue Cross, including many retired military and civil service workers and the Stafford school district who will be affected by the potential cancellation of the contract between Mary Washington Hospital and Anthem Blue Cross.

My husband and I moved here six years ago and had to find new doctors, including primary care, cardiologist, gastroenterologist, urologist and nephrologist. Does anyone have any idea how hard it will be to find new doctors for all these specialties?

I worked in the administration department of a hospital in Pennsylvania, and I know that these contract disputes are all about the hospital's bottom line with no regard for how this will affect their patients. For all those affected by this dispute, please join me in asking Mary Washington to put its patients first.

Alice Mullen

Stafford

Government needs security stand-down

Anyone who served in the military like I did understands the importance of safeguarding classified material and the repercussions for failing to do so. Apparently, those lessons were never learned by the politicians running our country. We now know that the most senior leaders in the past two administrations have left office with classified material in their possession that they no longer required. In my day, any change of command or transfer of leadership necessitated an inventory to ensure that all of the classified material in the custody of the outgoing regime was located and properly transferred to the incoming regime.

My question is who in the Obama/Biden and Trump administrations signed for custody of all these newly found documents? My recommendation is that the federal government conduct a security stand-down. Take a day when all any politician or government employee does is conduct an inventory of the classified material they are responsible for and participate in mandatory training on how to properly safeguard it.

I have known military officers who have lost jobs for failing to safeguard classified material. Some politicians should be losing their jobs now.

Jim Shelton

Fredericksburg