Print edition: 
Money matters more than care?
Kudos to “Destroying lives” (Dec. 11 Letters to the Editor) for expressing so well the concern of thousands of families across Kansas. We are the families of individuals who have various special needs, and we are facing the dismal prospect of managed care taking over the personal care of our loved ones.
I am the mother of a 27-year-old son with epilepsy and Asperger’s syndrome (autism). My husband and I have been through years of finding the best schooling and now the best day services for our son, who still lives at home. The day program he attends is amazing, with the most caring staff we could ever hope to have. This program is in jeopardy under managed care because of its small size. Small size is what we want for our son.
We also have a case manager who knows us, who has visited our home, and who understands our son. Under managed care, we would have an 800 number with a total stranger to “guide” us in the paperwork and decisions regarding his care.
This is not a political issue. This is not Republican or Democrat. This is the well-being of our special loved ones. Have we really come to the point where the bottom line here is money?
PATTY MOORE
Goddard
All on drugs?
In the recent past, we have heard from ultraconservative Kansas legislators that anyone who is receiving benefits, including those receiving food stamps, welfare and Medicaid, should be subjected to drug tests. Now we have the ultraconservative members of the U.S. Congress proposing that those who are receiving unemployment benefits do the same thing (Dec. 10 Eagle).
What is it with these people? Do they honestly believe that the poor and the unemployed are all on drugs? Apparently.
It infuriates me and insults me. More than that, it scares me, because it is just one more example of why we’re on the verge of class warfare.
CHARLIE SNOOK
Newton
Beliefs, not party
As for Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, charging that Sen. Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita, has “spent her election nights with Democrats” (“Moderates may have unlikely aid source,” Dec. 11 Local & State): It may surprise Landwehr to know that a lot of us actually don’t care what party people are affiliated with as long as they share our beliefs. No doubt Landwehr has shared a few election nights with Republicans who were very active in Democrat Joan Finney’s campaign or involved with Operation Rescue protests, and either of those things bothers me a lot more than whether someone is a “D” or an “R.”
ELIZABETH ROWE
Wichita
