I called Medicare on behalf of my elderly mom. As they should, they requested my authority. I said I would fax them the Power of Attorney and they said they could not take POA’s by fax or e-mail, also that I would have to contact Social Security and have the POA registered with them first.
After calling Social Security and pressing buttons for five minutes, the computer on the other end said that Social Security is busy at the first of the month, the wait for an agent is too long, told me to call back later and hung up.
Have you stood in Department of Transportation lines or tried to get proper service? These are good people working in archaic, inefficient bureaucracies. Now ask, “Do I want the federal government involved further in my personal healthcare?”
We do not need more bureaucracies that this disastrous health care bill will call for. It is unconstitutional for the federal government to force free citizens to buy health insurance. We need insurance reforms in the private sector, not a massive, expensive federal bill. By 2014 this bill will increase our debt to unsustainable levels. Add bankrupted Social Security, soaring Medicare costs, and continued high unemployment and the future looks even dimmer.
We need change that consists of policies that will spur the private sector like President Reagan instituted in the ’80s that led to two decades of great prosperity.
WALLACE CHAMBERS
Bahama
Thanks for support
On Friday evening, more than 500 Durhamites came together to support Urban Ministries of Durham’s signature fundraiser, Empty Bowls ’10, raising close to $28,000 for UMD’s hunger relief efforts.
UMD serves an average of 600 meals a day in its Community Café. Nearly 400 households a month receive groceries from its food pantry. Due to a single evening of generous giving, we will be able to feed thousands over the coming months.
I can’t thank the more than 75 event sponsors by name here, but a full list can be found at www.umdurham.org. Special thanks to our platinum sponsor, Quintiles Transnational; and our gold sponsors, ABC11, Apogee Medical, and Tracy Bissette.
Thanks also to restaurants Blu Seafood & Bar, Nana’s, Papa Mojo’s Roadhouse, Revolution, Rue Cler, Watts Grocery, Whole Foods Market, and UMD’s own Community Café; our soup judges Summer Bicknell of Locopops, Ted Domville of Local Yogurt, Rep. “Mickey” Michaux, and Tisha Powell of ABC11 News; our emcee, Mayor Bill Bell; scores of participating potters; the planning committee, UMD staff, and dozens of volunteers who made the evening a success.
Finally, thanks to all who came to out to support Empty Bowls. Your generosity will improve many lives for months to come.
If you missed Empty Bowls, you can still help by participating in our Stewards Fund challenge, which will match the contribution of any new UMD donor, up to $25,000. For more information, visit www.umdurham.org.
GREG ROWLAND
Chairman, Urban Ministries of Durham Board of Directors
Misleading column
I am not an accountant, but I am confident that John Hood’s apologia for the health insurance companies in the March 7 paper is misleading. He reports that Blue Cross Blue Shield had a net profit of only 2 percent of revenue last year.
My question is “Net of what?” Among the costs of doing business, which are deducted from revenue, would be the huge expenditures in its campaign to defeat health-care legislation in Congress. I can’t manage sympathy for a company if, whatever its profit margin, it is able to pay its top executives outrageous salaries while sharply raising insurance rates annually for us subscribers.
RICHARD CRAMER
Chapel Hill
