11/18 Letters: Only medical practitioners should decide what a ‘real emergency’ is

“Is it an emergency? Insurer makes patients question ER visit” (Nov. 9) highlights a recently implemented policy from America’s second largest insurer, Anthem, which will negatively impact thousands of patients across the United States. This policy may result in patients receiving surprise hospital bills for ER visits the patients themselves believed were imminent emergencies, but which were later classified as “avoidable.” Contrary to the rationale for this policy change, a recent study from the University of California at San Francisco found that only 3.3 percent of emergency department visits can be considered “avoidable.”

Recommending that patients should only use the ER for “real” emergencies forces Americans to make a dangerous choice only licensed medical practitioners should make, putting them in critical danger. As longtime health care advocates, we urge Anthem to fix its policy. We believe it violates the basic tenets of the insurer/patient agreement and provides yet another example of abusive practices that prevent Americans from accessing quality health care.

Conserve land

Regarding “Spare West Raleigh a bulging Beltline” (Nov. 15): readers should pay utmost attention to the wise words of Ted Van Dyke. I strongly support his creative ideas that would be a compassionate alternative to the NC DOT’s proposed beltline widening.

As long as we accommodate the car, drivers will continue to move further and further out of the city, resulting more and more in the use of farmland for residential development. When traffic congestion becomes more and more intolerable to our drivers, perhaps then consideration would be given to using public transportation.

The NC DOT does not have to perpetuate itself by looking for more ways to destroy our environment. Did Houston have much of a chance to withstand the flooding with so much of its land covered with concrete? What the NC DOT is proposing could be damaging in a myriad of ways. Conservation of our land should be a high priority. Let’s think “outside the box” on this very crucial matter.

McConnell ‘misspoke’

Regarding “McConnell joins Ryan in walking back false promise on tax bill” (Nov. 10): Sen. Mitch McConnell has already admitted that he “misspoke” when he claimed that his party’s tax plan would not raise taxes on any middle-class families. Now he is going after the ACA tax mandate.

His claims this time is that the repeal of the mandate would ensure corporate tax cuts remain permanent and lower taxes for middle-class families. I believe half of that is true and half might be a “misspoke.”

This story was originally published November 17, 2017 at 6:00 PM with the headline "11/18 Letters: Only medical practitioners should decide what a ‘real emergency’ is."