Letters to the Editor (July 7)

Healthcare plan

To all United States senators and representatives:

As representatives of all of the people (rich, poor, young, old, healthy, disabled, etc.), please put aside politics and inflammatory words and statements; and put together a plan that humanely addresses the healthcare needs of all people.

I believe that basic or necessary healthcare must be available to treat each person (living in the United States) that is ill or injured. I can’t imagine anyone in our country being denied basic healthcare (to see a doctor or be treated at a hospital) because they don’t have the money to buy health insurance or they don’t have money to cover a high insurance deductible. And then, the hospitals and doctors that provide benevolent care for those that can’t pay must be reimbursed. Hospitals need your support to stay open. Cuts to Medicaid are hurting our rural hospitals.

A healthy workforce is essential to a healthy economy. People too sick to work will add to the number of families that are on welfare.

We must consider the elderly, who worked hard in the past, but have inadequate income now. Many retired 15 or 20 years ago. As life expectancy continues to increase, there will be more and more senior citizens who need basic healthcare. Already some elderly people find they do not have the funds for both food and the healthcare they need. We must address the aging population.

Illegal voting

Very few people have tried to vote illegally in Kansas despite Kris Kobach’s claims of voter fraud that the courts rejected. Remember The Eagle’s report last July?- “These voters will receive the same ballot as everyone else, but local election officials will be instructed not to count their votes for state and local races.” Kobach’s false claim provided a rationale for preventing more than 17,000 Kansas voters from voting.

FactCheck found our president lying about voter fraud in the 2016 election, “falsely claim[ing] that a Pew Charitable Trusts report supports his claim that millions of people voted illegally. ...[T]he Pew report found no evidence of voter fraud.” Pew's 2012 report found that 2.75 million people were registered in more than one state — including four members of Trump’s cabinet or staff — but “no evidence that any of them voted twice.”

Meanwhile Mueller and Congress investigate evidence that more than 22 U.S. states had their elections hacked by the Russians to aid the Trump campaign. Are Kobach and Trump using false claims of voter fraud to distract us?

This story was originally published July 6, 2017 at 5:02 AM with the headline "Letters to the Editor (July 7)."