Readers Write: March 15

Tax credits won’t help health coverage

Republicans continue to show their asinine stupidity regarding health care for the poor.

One thing for sure: Tax credits do not provide any sort of medical coverage. So, in effect, the Republicans are offering nothing to those who can’t afford expensive health insurance. As a result, the poor will go back to their old ways to get health care. They will go to hospital ER’s for their primary healthcare, costing 10 times what a normal doctor’s visit would cost. And, since most can’t afford the ER costs, their ER bills go unpaid, forcing the hospital to up their rates for the rest of us to pay for those uninsured.

I’d like for the Republicans to tell us how that’s going to benefit anyone. Well, at least the insurance companies will profit. So they can continue to bribe the politicians to protect those profits.

Politicians are no longer representatives of the people. And while the politicians prostitute themselves, it’s the taxpayers who get get shafted. Pitiful.

DONALD VARN, ROSWELL

‘Sidewalks to nowhere’ a waste of money

I have always supported anything that encourages exercise and and healthy lifestyles, so when the current wave of sidewalk construction started, I was excited. Now I believe enough is more than enough and I am very concerned that we are wasting taxpayers’ money on “sidewalks to nowhere.” I don’t buy into the argument that “the kids will be able to walk to school” because, let’s be honest, that will not happen in an era when parents pick up their kids in their cars at the school bus stop. Justification for future sidewalks should be for a specific, tangible purpose and not to satisfy some politician’s desire to ingratiate themselves to a fringe interest group.

IAN SHAW, CUMMING