Letters 11-10-13

Subscribe Now Choose a package that suits your preferences.
Start Free Account Get access to 7 premium stories every month for FREE!
Already a Subscriber? Current print subscriber? Activate your complimentary Digital account.

With all I am seeing, reading and hearing, it appears that the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, is not really that affordable nor is it expected to be.

Affordable Care Act
not that affordable

With all I am seeing, reading and hearing, it appears that the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, is not really that affordable nor is it expected to be.

The president actually lied to the American people when he said, “You can keep the health insurance plans you already have … there will be no new taxes for those earning less than $250,000 … health care premiums will cost less.” From all that is coming out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, it appears that none of these statements are true. People are receiving cancellation notices from their current insurance providers; the premiums are turning out to be higher, not lower, and there are various taxes included in the health care bill.

Most importantly, the Affordable Care Act violates my right to religious liberty by including plans that provide contraceptives and abortion services without giving any transparency so that I can objectively check out which plans include these services, so I can avoid choosing a plan that includes abortion or contraceptive provisions.

So much for a supposedly affordable health care system that I will be able to afford and one that will not cause me to violate my religious principles.

Barbara J. Ferraro

Hilo

VASH is amazing

A personal experience I encountered truly impressed me as to how the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii operates.

This past Ironman event, a tragedy happened to a volunteer couple from Colorado. They were enjoying themselves as volunteers helping out with registering the athletes when a phone call from their home on Friday (the day before the Ironman event) changed everything for them. They had to make an immediate departure to help take care of matters at their hometown with family. You can imagine their feeling of desperation as the town was bustling with people and having to find a flight to get back to Colorado as soon as possible was almost an impossibility.

With a few contacts to VASH, this couple was able to leave that night via Honolulu and was back in Colorado Saturday morning. VASH helped them get the flight, helped close out the condo and whatever else that needed to be done. This organization stepped in and made the transition for departure so easy, minus the stress that you can imagine they must have been in. I have seen VASH help out other visitors in other situations.

Kona can be proud about having such a well-organized group of people who can step in and help our visitors in a time of crisis.

Betty De Roy

Kona