They reap the reward while you suffer

You're not alone if you are fed up with corporate insurers getting in the way of your health care.

Health insurance corporations like Aetna, Humana and UnitedHealthcare routinely harm patients to pad their own profits.

These firms limit patients to narrow provider networks, require “prior authorization” of routine medical care and outright deny claims. We, the patients, pay the price while they reap the rewards.

Americans are sharing heartbreaking stories of mistreatment by their health plans.

They want a real fix to this longstanding problem that would allow them to access the care they need, when they need it, without the fear of going bankrupt. We need a system that delivers universal coverage, comprehensive benefits and zero out-of-pocket costs — free from profit-driven conflicts of interest.

The human costs of corporate insurance are mounting every day.

Please tell your members of Congress to act NOW and put an end to corporate denials of health care, once and for all.

Kathy Kinstler, Cleveland

Dangerous RFK Jr. will get people killed

Most of us believe that one of government’s fundamental responsibilities is keep us safe and secure.

That includes promoting good public health and protecting us from illnesses.

But Donald Trump’s plan to let Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “go wild on health” will get people killed.

Kennedy is an outspoken conspiracy theorist.

He wants to make policies based on misinformation like vaccines causing autism and fluoridation in the water having a negative impact on health and advocates for risky behavior such as drinking raw milk and treating COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine.

His anti-vax lies are allegedly linked to at least 83 deaths from a measles outbreak in Samoa. His anti-safe milk stance is particularly alarming in light of the growing threat of bird flu.

In addition, he has been accused of sexual assault.

More than 75 Nobel laureates are urging the Senate to reject Kennedy, saying he will put public health in jeopardy, and the public sharply disagrees with his views and trusts him substantially less than Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Please let your senators know that this appointment must be blocked at all costs, before ordinary Americans start to pay the price — with their lives!

Faith Greer, Stow

Politicians use our differences against us

Over the course of my life, I have witnessed an alarming movement toward willful ignorance and intolerance among a significant portion of society.

There is no doubt that social media and failures of government have contributed to this; social media by giving voice to hate and the government by promoting an indifference to the needs of society. People are too busy trying to get by to pay much attention to what our society is becoming, and resentment grows.

The reason Donald Trump won the election despite being a deeply flawed person is he speaks to the frustration of many.

Unfortunately, that frustration too often manifests itself as intolerance; there is a clear divide between the privileged and others.

The term "woke" is applied to anyone who recognizes that differences in ethnicity, sexual identity and political views are a strength, not a weakness. The best ideas come from a diversity of thought.

Rather than governing, our politicians use those differences to create division and get elected. Gerrymandering contributes to this effort.

Rather than cast blame, voters must pay attention and demand an end to gerrymandering, the ridiculous amount of money used to influence elections and vote based upon results rather than promises.

Steven Donatone, Dublin