your views [Virginian – Pilot]

A second look at health exchanges

RE "VIRGINIA CAN ENSURE higher premiums," Sunday Forum, Nov. 13: Benjamin Domenech misses the mark on the health care law. The author falsely claims that only 3 percent of Americans support the law. According to a recent Bloomberg poll, more than 60 percent of Americans say they want to keep or strengthen the law.

Gov. Bob McDonnell is working to set up a health benefits exchange because he knows there is a good chance the law will be upheld by the Supreme Court. Just last week, a third U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed constitutionality of controversial parts. The law does many good things for consumers and businesses.

The exchange gives small businesses and individuals more buying power, and the health care law provides states with funding to set it up. If states do not set up an exchange, the Department of Health and Human Services will operate one through an agreement with a nonprofit entity.

Ultimately, governors who bide their time will still have to show up for the game, but they might end up riding the bench. Regardless, the exchanges will create a competitive market where consumers (individuals and small businesses) have clear information as to what each product covers, and insurance companies are invited to compete.

Tom Kennedy

Chesapeake

Debt ceiling dilemma

There have been a multitude of suggestions by our Congress regarding ways to address our staggering economy and get us back on track: More taxes, budget and debt reduction, etc.

The one that perplexes me most is raising the debt ceiling. My question to this is found in the following analogy: If you came home one day and found that your sewer system was clogged and the house full, would you find a way to drain it - or raise the ceiling?

Jim Yandle

Chesapeake

Expensive lesson

A student was suspended for 90 days from a Chesapeake school for a Facebook post threatening her teacher. During this suspension, a teacher is being sent to the student's home to ensure she continues her studies. "She knows she did wrong. She's paying for her mistakes," said her father.

I ask her father and the Chesapeake school system: She's paying for her mistakes, but is she paying for the tutor?

Nowhere have I seen a comment on whether she is paying for the teacher to come to her home. Is Chesapeake in the habit of paying for what is in effect a private tutor for this girl? Does Chesapeake pay for private tutors for all of its suspended students?

Kimberly Ives

Virginia Beach

Blind to flaws

Re "Calling on Gingrich," Charles W. Dunn op-ed column, Nov. 16: Professor Dunn heaps praise on Newt Gingrich. But Dunn has one "oops" moment when he sneaks in 50 words to dismiss without detailing any of the skeletons in Gingrich's past because the "bad news" is already out.

Dunn absolves Gingrich invoking his "newfound religious faith," ignores his multiple moral and ethical lapses, ethical violations while speaker of the House, serial marriages, not to mention the Tiffany accounts.

Dunn calls Gingrich's opponents the Seven Dwarfs, but they look like moral giants when contrasted with Gingrich's bad news. Do we really want as president a man with a habit of moral and ethical lapses?

Bob Dotzler

Chesapeake

Time bomb

November is National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month and National Family Caregivers Month. Why is this important? Right now 5.4 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease. Of Americans aged 65 and older, one in eight has the disease. Another American develops the disease every 69 seconds.

In 2011 the cost to American society of caring for those with the disease will total an estimated $183 billion. Additionally, nearly 15 million caregivers provided 17 billion hours of uncompensated care to those victimized by Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. If the data seem overwhelming now, consider the staggering implications for the future. As our population continues to age, it is estimated that the cost will total $1.1 trillion by 2050.

The Alzheimer's Association has urged Congress to increase our national commitment to funding Alzheimer's research and to improve the diagnostic and care planning process. HR1897 (the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act) would make Alzheimer's disease research a priority with the National Institutes of Health in order to develop treatments to prevent, cure or slow the progression of the disease. SB738/HR1386 (the HOPE Act) would improve the diagnosis of the disease and information for caregivers.

As our country continues to debate how health care should be delivered, we must invest in Alzheimer's disease research and clinical care, and we must do it now.

Terry S. Jenkins

Virginia Beach

Scapegoat for schools

Re "Early dismissal is official," front page, Nov. 17: It doesn't matter if we agree with the decision of the Norfolk School Board to fire Superintendent Richard Bentley after only 16 months because the board is appointed, and the citizens of Norfolk do not have a say in it.

The problems in our school system run far, wide and deep; it took years to get where we are.

There is no instant magic fix, no pie-in-the-sky remedy, and our elected members of the City Council and their appointed School Board members need to address these problems with the understanding and knowledge that this will take time.

That being said, all parents of school-age children need to realize that they must spend whatever time is needed with their children to ensure they are successful.

Larry Keefe

Norfolk

Breaking point

Can anyone stop the Oceana jet noise madness? Does it have to be nonstop from 7:30 a.m. til 9 p.m. or later every day?

I missed all of the class action suits - which means I didn't get a dime for the inconvenience of not being able to make a phone call, hear the radio, watch TV.

There must be a solution. Every problem has a solution. Is jet noise a problem? Too much of anything is a problem.

I urge the Navy and Virginia Beach to solve this maddening noise. They must stop ignoring the fact that our quality of life is deteriorating daily.

This will result only in good taxpayers walking away.

Pamela Gilbert

Virginia Beach