Singled out

The Nov. 30 Point of View piece “An opening for better HIV care,” by Allison Rice, contained a very disturbing sentence: “Currently, eligibility for Medicaid is limited to very low-income parents, children, elderly and the disabled.”

What about very low-income single individuals, or for that matter very low-income childless couples? It is an appalling injustice to ask people to pay for programs that they cannot access no matter how much they need them. Why is it that people without children are “part of the community” when it comes to paying for education, but not when it comes to needed assistance?

It’s time that we as a society decide whether people without children are part of this community. If so, then such people must be allowed to participate in all needed assistance programs and all tax cuts. If not, then their tax burden must be reduced accordingly.

Gayle Robinson Snyder

Raleigh