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4A | OCTOBER 29, 2020 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Cottage Grove Sentinel 116 N. Sixth St. Cottage Grove, Ore. 97424 NED HICKSON , MANAGING EDITOR | Opinion 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ CGSENTINEL . COM The First Amendment C ongress shall make no law respect- ing an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Govern- ment for a redress of grievances. “I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” —Thomas Jefferson (1800) USPS#133880 Copyright 2020 © COTTAGE GROVE SENTINAL Letters to the Editor Policy The Sentinel welcomes letters to the editor as part of a community discussion of issues on the local, state and national level. Emailed letters are preferred. Handwritten or typed letters must be signed. All letters need to include full name, address and phone number; only name and city will be printed. Letters should be limited to about 300 words. Letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. Publication of any letter is not guaranteed and depends on space available and the volume of letters received. Letters that are anonymous, libelous, argumentative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or without documentation will not be published. Letters containing poetry or from outside The Sentinel readership area will only be published at the discretion of the editor. Political/Election Letters: Wrong healthcare questions are still being asked monwealth Fund naming us dead last among the top 11 industrialized countries for overall healthcare dol- lar-for-dollar. While there are many reasons for healthcare’s While watching the local and nation candidates dis- cuss healthcare, I couldn’t help but be struck by the irony that most of the same people haggling over what health coverage Americans should have access to are the same people who have complete coverage paid for by taxpayer dollars. It’s no wonder that the real question that cur- rent members of Congress should be asking has yet to be raised: Why is health- care so expensive to begin with? At $3 trillion a year, the cost of healthcare in the U.S. is nearly twice as much as any other developed country. In fact, according to Consumer Reports, if that $3 trillion healthcare sector was its own country, it would be the fifth-largest economy in the world. And even though we are outspending other indus- trialized countries nearly 2-to-1, the World Health Organization (WHO) re- cently ranked the U.S. a dismal 37th in healthcare systems — with The Com- only 900 beds. The reason? Billing specialists are needed to determine how to bill the varying require- ments of multiple insurers. Why the need for multi- From the Editor's Desk Ned Hickson astronomical costs in this country — from defen- sive medicine practices for avoiding lawsuits, to the “branding” of healthcare providers similar to de- signer clothing (the bigger the name, the more money they can demand from in- surance companies) — the same two cost factors rise to the top of the list: • Administrative costs. • Drug costs. WHO studies, Consum- er Reports and even health economists like David Cut- ler at Harvard University agree that those two factors are the driving forces be- hind skyrocketing health- care costs. On average, 25 percent of healthcare dol- lars go to cover administra- tive fees. In an interview on the PBS News Hour, Cutler gave the example of Duke University Hospital, which has 1,300 billing clerks and ple insurers? Because more and more, single insurers can’t cover the rising costs of medical procedures and drug pre- scriptions, particularly at a time when the median age in America is 40. In most countries, gov- ernment negotiates drug prices with drug makers, which virtually guaran- tees lower prices. Howev- er, when Congress created Medicare Part D, it spe- cifically denied Medicare the right to negotiate drug prices. At the same time, the Veterans Administra- tion and Medicaid aren’t under the same restriction and pay the lowest drug prices. According to Congress’s own Budget Office, if Medicare Part D recipients received the same discount as Medicaid recipients, the federal government would save $116 billion over the next 10 years. Imagine the money American taxpayers would save if those on Medicare could benefit from the same Medicaid-negotiated drug prices? One has to wonder why Congress is so opposed to weighing in on controlling the cost of prescription drugs and healthcare as a whole, and what — if any — role those who benefit most from that $3 trillion industry play in that deci- sion. As taxpayers, we are America’s shareholders — and Congress is our board of directors. It’s time we ask why the board of America, Inc., isn’t pursuing a more cost-effective healthcare plan that will guarantee a better return on our invest- ment, which in this case literally puts lives at stake physically and financially. Rather than bickering over ways to pay the astro- nomical costs associated with healthcare and pre- scription drugs, Congress needs to slow down and address the issue of con- trolling those costs in the first place. Establishing affordable healthcare isn’t as much about how to pay more but about how to pay less. I am curious as to why there has been no discus- sion concerning the new homeless town being con- structed behind the post office. From what I understand, this facility will contain 15 plastic private suites for the homeless which will be heated, have wi-fi, fenced in for security, have Bucks toilets supplied, possibly a mobile shower facility and food. I think this should have been brought to the pub- lic’s attention before being done. Send letters to: nhickson@cgsentinel.com HOW TO CONTACT YOUR REPS Oregon state representatives Oregon federal representatives • Sen. Floyd Prozanski • Rep. Peter DeFazio District 4 State Senator PO Box 11511 Eugene, Ore. 97440 Phone: 541-342-2447 Email : sen.fl oydprozanski@ state.or.us (House of Representatives) 405 East 8th Ave. #2030 Eugene, Ore. 97401 Email: defazio.house.gov/ contact/email-peter Phone: 541-465-6732 • Rep. Cedric Hayden Republican District 7 State Representative 900 Court St. NE Salem, Ore. 97301 Phone: 503-986-1407 Website: www.leg.state.or. us/hayden Email: rep.cedrichayden@ state.or.us • Sen. Ron Wyden 405 East 8th Ave., Suite 2020 Eugene, Ore. 97401 Email: wyden.senate.gov Phone: (541) 431-0229 • Sen. Jeff Merkley Email: merkley.senate.gov Phone: 541-465-6750 S entinel C ottage G rove 541-942-3325 Administration Jenna Bartlett, Group Publisher Gary Manly, General Manager... Ext. 1207 gmanly@cgsentinel.com Gerald Santana, Multi-Media Sales Consultant... Ext. 1216 gsantana@cgsentinel.com Carla Skeel, Inside Multi-Media Sales Consultant... Ext. 1203 csummers@cgsentinel.com LETTERS Public input needed for new homeless camp Election-related letters must address pertinent or timely issues of interest to our readers at-large. Letters must: 1) Not be a part of letter-writing campaigns on behalf of (or by) candidates; 2) Ensure any information about a candidate is accurate, fair and not from second-hand knowledge or hearsay; and 3) explain the reasons to support candidates based on personal experience and perspective rather than partisanship and campaign-style rhetoric. Candidates themselves may not use the letters to the editor column to outline their views and platforms or to ask for votes; this constitutes paid political advertising. As with all letters and advertising content, the newspaper, at the sole discretion of the publisher, general manager and editor, reserves the right to reject any letter that doesn’t follow the above criteria. Many people in this community do not want a first-class homeless shelter to attract new homeless to Cottage Grove. —Stephen Nisewander Cottage Grove Editorial Ned Hickson, Managing Editor... 541-902-3520 nhickson@cgsentinel.com Damien Sherwood, Lead Reporter... 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