Letters To The Editor

WASHINGTON STATE

Companies don’t need Senn, people do

For the last 18 years I have represented injured people against insurance companies. I have learned that insurance companies are in business to make money.

The insurance company generates revenues by collecting premiums. The less money paid out to satisfy claims the more money there is left as profits for the insurance companies.

Insurance companies aren’t in the business of caring about victims. They are in the business of making money. That’s why we need Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn. She protects all of us from a billion-dollar industry.

The more unfair and unscrupulous an insurance company is allowed to operate, the greater its profits and the more the injured person is left without help. Do you believe this billion-dollar industry really cares about you? If you do, would you please explain how an industry that cares about people became a billion-dollar industry? Mother Teresa does not have a billion dollars. Insurance companies do, and God help us if our insurance commissioner does not protect us from their might.

Doctors in Spokane are requesting medical procedures be performed so that their patients receive the care needed. Every day insurance companies are refusing to pay for those procedures. People are suffering and dying because insurance companies will not authorize what the doctor ordered.

The doctor cares about the patient. The insurance company cares about money. If you are sick an dying, who do you trust, your doctor or the insurance company? This is why we need Deborah Senn as insurance commissioner. Charles T. Conrad, attorney at law Spokane

Skipper better choice than Senn

On March 18, Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn announced her plans to run for re-election. For the sake of all Washington citizens we can only hope this will be her last run at this office. Deborah Senn is a loose cannon who has abused her power as insurance commissioner. While in office, administrative mandates have pulled the consumer out of the marketplace. New government mandates have also caused insurance companies to become insolvent or cease writing new health insurance policies in this state. The result has been an additional 178,000 new families in our state going on health welfare.

Our choices in health insurance carriers have dwindled under Senn. Without being able to choose who you want as an insurance carrier, state government will control your premiums and your coverage.

Fortunately, we have a choice in a new commissioner. His name is Steve Skipper. Skipper believes in a free market and will protect middle class insurance policyholders by keeping insurance separate from government welfare. He also wants to increase competition by encouraging good companies to still do business in our state. More competition results in lower premiums.

It’s time to end the antics of Deborah Senn by electing Steve Skipper as our new insurance commissioner this fall. Justin Childers Spokane

BUSINESS AND LABOR

Price was too good to be true, huh?

Re: “New prison to rip out heating, cooling pipes,” March 14): What in the world do you expect when you hire scab labor, scab operators, scab plumbers and scab technicians? Where were the inspectors? We have well-trained labor in Spokane County, without sending to California or anyplace else out of state. The taxpayers are really stuck once again. William and Rosemary Parcher Spokane

Group Health CEO’s pay justified

As an employee and a member of Group Health Northwest, I feel compelled to clarify some of the information in your recent article about salaries paid to health insurance CEOs.

You neglected to mention that, of the CEOs named in the article, Dr. Henry Berman is the only physician CEO and runs a $250 million organization that provides health care for 160,000 enrollees. It’s also important to note that Group Health Northwest is the only health plan in Eastern Washington to receive full accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, a distinction only 10 percent of health care plans nationwide can claim.

Additionally, 92 percent of Group Health’s primary care physicians are board certified; the national average is approximately 65 percent. Group Health ranks fifth nationwide among all HMOs in the quality of care, according to a recent survey by Bloomberg Personal, which rated 591 HMOs on care received by members. We are indeed fortunate to be able to receive health care from a company of this caliber in Spokane.

Thank you for mentioning that senior management will receive less salary this year. This decision was made by senior management, whose dedication and commitment to the company and its members is such that they decided, as a team, to take these cuts. At Group Health Northwest, 90-92 percent of every premium dollar is spent directly on patient care, compared with 70-80 percent in many for-profit plans.

It is imperative that information be put in perspective so that a more complete picture is shown. Barbara A. Larsen Spokane

LAW AND JUSTICE

Lack of furor cause for concern

Doug Clark’s March 17 column, “Bonehead blunder gives student lesson in injustice,” referred to a lack of prosecution for rape as a “bonehead blunder.” That’s putting it blandly when this is clearly a malicious act, considering the current fracas within the prosecutor’s office and should call for an immediate discharge.

The column also mentions two witnesses who, in sworn affidavits, say they “saw the young woman trying to resist sexual advances.” Further, the column states this young woman was seen being dragged by her ankles 80 feet back to Tony Ledenko’s room after she ran down the hall to get on an elevator.

This should have raised the ire of the ACLU. Why didn’t it? Where are the voices of Rape Crisis, of women’s organizations? Is this a throw-away case? Would this case be thrown away if the name of the victim was Carol Davis? Edward Thomas Jr. Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

What a town without pity can’t do

Residents of DeBorgia, Mont., say they have “the values people had 50 years ago” (Death threats were laughed off, March 17).

Evidently. When a man describes his plans to murder his stepmother, it’s called “venting.” When the woman is repeatedly seen beaten and bruised, they say “you don’t step in between a married couple.”

When she’s finally dead, they say “we never dreamed it could happen.”

What were they dreaming of? If the accused had talked of killing a local minister or school teacher, would they not have recognized a mental disorder and intervened? If that victim appeared in public with visible signs of abuse, would they not “pull together” and do something?

Wake up. The slaughter of women is not sane. It is not normal. It is not to be “laughed off.”

Thanks for letting us know that “places like this are gone forever.” Jan Tracy Spokane

Why didn’t alleged witnesses act?

Why are so many people indignant only at the prosecutor’s office in the Tony Ledenko alleged rape case?

I’m even more upset at the two witnesses who heard the victim repeatedly say no and saw her being dragged by her feet down the hallway.

Why didn’t these purported witnesses come to the aid of the victim? To stand by and do nothing is reprehensible. Laurie Perdue Spokane

Brainwashed? Speak for yourself

Janice Moerschel’s March 11 letter, “Letters reflect brainwashing,” really made me mad.

I’m a 15-year-old girl at Mead High School. It really upsets me to think that adults in our society view my generation as brainless idiots. I can assure you that we have minds and do know how to think.

We might believe in things like animal rights, pollution and discrimination, but not because we are taught to believe them. As a matter of fact, I don’t ever remember being taught about that stuff. Most kids learn about these issues through newspapers and on our own.

A lot of kids in my school could care less about the environment or animal rights. So many times in our society my generation is accused of not having heart, but yet when we do we are told we only have a heart because we are brainwashed.

My generation has been ridiculed and branded by our society. These issues are not the only things concerning our minds. Children, or youths, walk around town or go to school not knowing if just because of the clothes they wear they are going to live. We have a lot of issues facing teens in our generation, but so many adults are “brainwashed” into not seeing what’s happening in our generation.

I know adults have much to do with the way we are, but we do know how to think for ourselves. Jut because we have a heart and morals, it doesn’t mean we are idiots. Sara E. Wise Spokane

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Weaver the culprit, not officers

In response to the sensationalized editorial of D.F. Oliveria on the U.S. Marshals Service (“When will feds recognize errors?” Opinion, March 7): Oliveria infers that the Marshals Service initiated this tragedy, as though it did the investigations. Randy Weaver knows what happened. The “petty criminal” hid behind his family and he alone escalated the outcome. What is the lawful purpose of a sawed-off shotgun?

A medal is no compensation to these deputies or to their families. A coward dies a thousand deaths, Weaver. A hero dies but once. Martin Kridler Spokane