Letters to the Editor: Debating Beshear’s plan on health insurance for black Kentuckians

Say its name

Kentuckians are fortunate to have a governor who has responded to the pandemic with intelligence and humanity. His restrictions have saved lives. Now Gov. Andy Beshear looks at the unequal impact of COVID-19 on African Americans and, with compassion, declares that all African Americans in Kentucky should have health insurance. Yes. That would be an excellent beginning.

Now, governor, say its name. The only system that will cover every African American, letting no one fall through the cracks, is a national, not-for-profit, single payer plan — an improved Medicare for All. Such a plan, as set forth by Physicians for a National Health Program, would automatically enroll everyone, make care free at the point of service, yet save us money by removing the parasitic, for-profit insurance industry from our system.

Single payer would save rural hospitals by assuring funds through global budgeting and would cover dental work, eyeglasses, hearing aids, and drugs. It would cover nursing home care, banning the impoverishment now required for eligibility.

The plan would cover the rest of us as well. Please say its name, governor. National single payer health care — improved Medicare for All — publicly funded with the profit makers removed.

Kay Tillow, Louisville

Beshear plan divisive

I was shocked to read that Gov. Andy Beshear wants to guarantee health insurance to all black Kentuckians.

First of all, being an attorney, Beshear should know that insurance companies can’t write coverage based on race. It would be discrimination against whites or Hispanics, etc.

Secondly, he is assuming black Kentuckians are getting inferior healthcare because more are dying of the coronavirus. But there are no facts to back up that claim. It could be a genetic predisposition to lung disease or poor diet. It could be anything.

By distinguishing black Kentuckians from the rest of Kentuckians, Beshear is saying he is a racist. He doesn’t see us all the same — he sees race. He wants to make a big deal out of #TeamKentucky but then wants to divide us into black and white.

Beshear said he was going to connect black Kentuckians with private insurance and Medicaid. Medicaid is for the poorer Kentuckians. So Beshear is assuming black people are poor. That is a racist assumption. If I were a black person, I would take that as an insult.

If Beshear is going to bring us together, he is going to have to do better than that.

Pat Bullock, Salvisa

Empty slogan

Where is the “All Lives Matter” crowd when we try to get healthcare for all? Improve public education? Ensure equal treatment for women and queer people? Welcome immigrants and refugees? Care for the elderly?

It seems that this tired refrain only comes out when we’re reminded that black lives aren’t treated like they matter in this country.

I’ll believe people’s hearts are in the right place when I see them fighting for all lives every day. Until then, forgive me for seeing through their anti-blackness.

Barton Lynch, Lexington

Include everyone

Regarding Gov. Andy Beshear’s statement that he would provide health insurance for all black Kentuckians: Why just black? Are they a special class? Why not red, yellow, and white too? Why should nonblacks be excluded? I fail to see any logic other than a blatant attempt at vote buying.

Ray Brown, Lexington

Oversight needed

I wonder what our local leaders in government are currently doing to remove officers who don’t deserve to continue serving — the “Derek Chauvins waiting to happen,” who have never truly been held accountable, who still think that they are above the law. “Well, we woulda/coulda/shoulda done something but we wanted to give him one more chance to straighten up and fly right.”

Anyone who has ever seen flashing blue lights in their rear-view mirror knows that not every officer joins the force to protect and serve. Instead, it is a legal way for them to grind some kind of personal ax and vent their hostilities toward largely defenseless people.

Wrongdoers don’t learn their lesson from threats and demands. They just figure out other ways to continue their actions without being detected.

I wonder who is reviewing their performance reports and who is reinterviewing them to make sure they have the right mental and moral aptitude to perform public safety work.

Who is rewatching body cam footage or interviewing victims of complaints to see if those actions merit assault charges?

What independent agency can oversee this process because law enforcement has the tendency to be a good old boy network that protects each other?

Morgan Salyer, Lexington

A long fight

Thank you to the Herald-Leader’s Daniel Desrochers for his recent article with the headline: ‘Charles Booker is the Democrat who fits the moment. Is that enough to win?’

I am one who thinks the rhetoric and righteousness will tire and give way to cooler heads. And, being black and morally correct, he has his advantage. The antiracism movement has the moral high ground.

But I’d rather see someone willing to take on the devil and negotiate a solution than go to the mat with an impossible task, too obscure, too fraught with victimization from both sides. Young people do not realize that when I was young, it was illegal for me to marry my black girlfriend, birth control and abortion were illegal, and a lot of other conditions they take for granted as their rights were forbidden. We have struggled long and hard to get this far.

There is still work to do and racism needs our attention. I am encouraged to see it under scrutiny.

Lincoln Christensen, Richmond

‘White privilege’

George Floyd is dead. Mr. Floyd supposedly passed a fake $20 in a store. He was a large black man of early middle age.

I am an old white man. About two years ago, I tried to purchase some ground coffee in a Lexington liquor store with a $10 bill I had just received in change from a food store.

I was informed the bill was counterfeit and that the store would have to keep it. Fine with me. I can afford it and I wouldn’t want to pass a bad bill. I gave them a good $20 and got my coffee.

No cops. No handcuffs. No struggle on the floor. Heck, they didn’t even take my name.

For those who wonder what “white privilege” is, well, there you go. I’m not saying that the store would have treated a black man differently. I have no way of knowing.

But the fact that I just walked out while Mr. Floyd is dead says something unpleasant about our country.

Hal S. Midkiff, Mount Sterling

Change the message

Most Civil War monuments are color-neutral (bronze or copper statues) and most officer uniforms worn by both sides are similar in these neutral colors (the differences are only noticed by history buffs).

People of different colors died in our Civil War, more than 600,000 humans; and women, children, grandparents, etc. suffered and died as well.

We can change the message sent to the public by these statues by removing the plaques from the monuments that honor a specific person, taking away any honor given, and replacing them with plaques that point out the suffering and loss of life our country had to endure from the Civil War.

John Moll, Mount Sterling

McGrath determined

Amy McGrath is the only candidate that has shown real interest in the public school educational support personnel I represent at Jefferson County public schools. She is the only candidate that came to my office to get an understanding of the needs of the public education systems’ classified employees: nutrition service workers, teachers’ assistants, secretaries, and more.

I am amazed at her determination to put in the work to support the people of Kentucky. When a teacher was running for a Bullitt County Senate seat, she drove from her home in Georgetown with her son and knocked on doors. She doesn’t stand on the steps and speak, but stands next to you and talks. She doesn’t just hear you when you are talking, but really listens. She supports the unions and sees the injustices so many in our state suffer due to years of neglect by Sen. Mitch McConnell. Her love for all Kentuckians is evident.

She is the Kentucky-born Democratic senatorial candidate that can and will beat McConnell if we don’t allow ourselves to fall prey to our own worst enemy, dividing our party. We must look beyond our own county to how as a state we will make the change by removing McConnell.

Sue Foster, Louisville, president JCAESP AFSCME Local 4011

Broihier honest, smart

Most of us can’t stand Sen. Mitch McConnell. He has done so much damage to our democracy and nothing to help Kentucky move forward. Some of us shake our heads, some call and write letters, some demonstrate. But one person has gone a lot further: Mike Broihier. He decided to run to beat Mitch. He and his wife, Lynn, put their farm on hold and sold equipment and animals to fund the endeavor. How many of us would take that risk? They have my utmost respect and Mike has my vote.

I like what Mike stands for. I like his character. His personality. His integrity. His intellect. He would move Kentucky forward. He has experience in the military (Marines), as a teacher, a newspaper writer and farmer. Just think what these experiences could do for us. Military, public education, free press, and Green farmer. He could beat Mitch.

Mike is honest, not scripted and on target. When you ask him a question, he answers it. Then he tells you why. This is rare. His answers make so much sense. They are new answers to Kentucky’s problems.

Please consider voting for Mike. A candidate like this doesn’t come around often. Now is our chance.

Jan Durham, Lexington

Booker has answers

Now is the time to vote your conscience. For the Democratic senatorial primary, you can “fall in love” and then for the general, be ready to “fall in line”. If you were leaning toward Amy McGrath, you really should listen to the KET debate. Her answers were clearly not in alignment with the Democratic Party. How many times have we tried to beat Sen. Mitch McConnell with a Republican-leaning Democrat and not beat him? Now is the time to elect state Rep. Charles Booker; he has a vision and a plan to implement change for racism, for healthcare, for education, for everything we need right now. He is very qualified and a true Democrat. Amy is not. So if you want to vote blue, vote Charles Booker. Amy still has no answers to what to do about anything that is important at this moment in history. Her only message is to get rid of Mitch. And Booker can do that.

Sarah Moore Katzenmaier, Lexington