OPINION THURSDAY, MAY 23, 2013
THE ITEM
A7
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR More questions arise about health care costs Re: Health care changes needed In response to Dr. Phillip Brandt’s letter to the editor dated May 1, I found it interesting that Dr. Brandt would complain about the bundling aspect of ObamaCare. I am sure someone in government has researched this aspect of the health care and determined there should be some savings. I do not claim to be an authority on health care and can only speak of my own experiences. While I consider myself neither Democrat nor Republican, I believe something must be done to change health care in our country. It is well known that citizens of many other countries receive great health care for a fraction of what we pay in the United States. I applaud the Democrats for trying to make these necessary changes even though as a small business owner it will certainly add to my overhead and cost of doing business. In closing, I would like to ask a series of questions of Dr. Brandt or anyone else in the medical profession who might like to respond. Why would a hospital in Columbia charge my uninsured adult son $3,800 for a CT scan that he could get at In Med for $300? Why would a hospital charge $30,000 for an ER visit when the insurance will only pay a small fraction of that amount? Why do the poorest of our citizens, uninsured or middle class families like my own with high deductible insurance typically pay more than people with great insurance which pays most if not all of their bills? Why if I am paying in cash should I pay 8, 10 or even 20 times more than an insurance company is willing to pay for the same procedure? MIKE COMPTON Sumter
Education is necessary for a great community As high school graduation ceremonies are held, parents and students contemplate the next step. For a community our size we are blessed to have so many options for private and public education, including Morris College, Central Carolina Technical College and University of South Carolina Sumter. The diversity of choices allows wonderful options for our populace. People are the best resource we have. Investing in the education of our people is the best investment we can make to enhance the value of this resource. I call upon the city and county councils to increase support for our two public colleges, Central Carolina Technical College and the University of South Carolina Sumter, in proportion to their enrollment numbers. Education is the foundation of a great
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community, and everyone benefits by having a better educated community. Keeping our high school graduates in local colleges makes sense. Mature students can “learn to earn” while continuing to take care of their families. While colleges with great football teams sound glamorous, many recent grads are not quite ready for that step to complete independence. Sadly, many parents have wasted money on college freshmen who majored in beer and minored in weed at large universities out of town. Students who complete the first years locally are much better prepared to transfer credits for the last two years. They also tend to have less student debt. In addition, many programs lead directly to excellent paying jobs in well-respected occupations, such as nursing, welding, automotive technology, accounting and management, machine tool, computer technology, environmental occupations, air conditioning and heating, engineering graphics and many others. I encourage community groups and individuals to consider scholarships in keeping with their mission statements. Scholarships can change lives forever. Education is a panacea for our community — a permanent remedy for many societal ills. SUSAN M. McMASTER, D.M. Dalzell
Taxpayers won’t accept shoddy road work Oh Mr. Roads Inspector, I sincerely hope you are living in the eastern part of Sumter County and having to use Highway 378. The area being resurfaced between Alligator and Eastern School Road is one of the shoddiest operations I have ever seen. The workmanship has not quite surpassed the work done on Leonard Brown Road but is getting closer. The lanes are uneven, high and low spots everywhere which actually makes the road rougher than it was before the resurfacing. I know this is contracted with SCDOT, I see the business name on the trucks, but I am sure someone in that organization has to inspect the work and then DOT inspects to approve it. I further realize that the lowest bid is accepted to perform the job. However, I also am sure we do not have to and will not accept substandard work. Mr. State Inspector, take a ride at the posted speed limit to the eastern limit and then return to the city on the west bound side and you can easily see it is not acceptable work for the taxpayers’ dollar. I use the roadway often as I do live on the east side of the county so please make the contractor get it right. JIM AUSTIN Sumter
EDITORIAL ROUNDUP Recent editorials from South Carolina newspapers: MAY 19
The Herald of Rock Hill on upgrading state school bus system: The priorities of our state lawmakers are hard to fathom in many aspects of the budgeting process. But it is especially alarming that they don’t care enough about the welfare of our children to provide them with safe school buses. South Carolina’s school bus fleet is the oldest in the nation. Two thirds of its buses are at least 15 years old, and that’s despite the addition of 342 new school buses this school year that replaced models up to 28 years old. In past years, the state has resorted to buying used school buses from other states, including some from Kentucky that were, on average, already 17 years old. In other words, South Carolina bought buses that the people of Kentucky thought were too old for their children to ride in. A bill passed in 2007 required the state to buy enough new school buses — about 480 a year — to replace the entire fleet every 15 years. But with the economic downturn, lawmakers have simply ignored the law every year since it was passed. The state Senate’s 2013-14 budget includes a proposal to buy $15 million worth of new school buses. About $2.75 million of that would come from higher-than-expected state lottery sales. But this barely scratches the surface of the need. Officials with the office of Republican state Superintendent Mick Zais estimate that at least $34 million would be needed to begin a legitimate replacement cycle, and Zais has asked legislators for $46 million in 2013-14. Old buses have fewer safety features than new ones and tend to break down more frequently. Many of them have no operable heating systems. School district maintenance crews often have to scavenge for spare parts for the oldest buses. And because of wear and old age, the buses are less efficient and cost more to run. Granted, maintaining the replacement schedule for buses during the recent recession would have been diffi-
cult. But with higher revenues than expected and the state’s economy on the mend, lawmakers have a responsibility to re-address this serious problem and begin to tackle it in a meaningful way. Allocating a mere $15 million for new buses is well below what is needed to upgrade the bus system. Our children deserve safe, efficient, comfortable buses that will get them to school on time. What could be more important to the state’s future than that? MAY 17
The Morning News of Florence on Graham playing politics: South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is hard to figure. He’s known as something of a maverick, which is beltway code for not a true blue (or red) partisan, but there he has been the last few months, hammering away at “Benghazi” like a Fox News star. Posturing for his upcoming election, which could very well feature a primary bout against a far right foe? Or, actually standing up for what he believes in? When pondering this topic, we came to a near draw. It certainly makes sense that Graham might be trying to make some political hay in a right-hand field where his harvest is usually fairly weak, but the longer he stays at this the better he looks. The main reason for that, of course, is that the longer the Benghazi thing goes on, the more obvious it becomes that President Obama and company really do have some explaining to do. This isn’t some sinister plot, but there is plenty of evidence of some blatant ... maneuvering that leaves the administration and state department looking foolish and venal. In the face of a horrible crisis, was their first concern really something other than the safety and well-being of American personnel overseas? Graham’s rhetoric once sounded shrill. Now he’s beginning to come across the tough-minded voice of reason. His latest pronouncement, which came in the face of a question about what should be done to shore embassy security overseas, was that first somebody should be held accountable — i.e., fired
N.G. OSTEEN 1843-1936 The Watchman and Southron
H.G. OSTEEN 1870-1955 Founder, The Item
H.D. OSTEEN 1904-1987 The Item
— for what happened in Benghazi. Sounds about right to us. We still think Graham is playing a political card here. Nothing really wrong with that. That’s what politicians do. And in this case he has shown some admirable perseverance that might serve him — and the state he represents — well in the years to come. MAY 21
The Post and Courier of Charleston on celebrating state’s jobless drop as moving in the right direction: Ask someone holding one of the 2,935 new jobs South Carolina added between March and April, and he’ll tell you things are looking up. Ask one of the 174,352 who are still unemployed and he’ll likely have a tale of woe. More work is needed before the economy can be pronounced healthy, but conditions are happily trending that way all across the state. This is the 10th consecutive monthly increase in jobs for South Carolina, and the largest month-to-month drop in the unemployment rate since May 1987. Even those who are still searching for jobs can take heart from the state’s progress. And the Lowcountry’s: Charleston County has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state at 5.8 percent, Dorchester’s rate is 6.1 percent and Berkeley County’s is 6.3 percent — all better than the state’s 8 percent jobless rate. Gov. Nikki Haley is justifiably enthusiastic. ... In other good news, construction jobs were up 3,000 from a year ago — a welcome sign that consumer confidence is building in the new housing market. Curiously, South Carolina, with its small-government leadership, gained 5,900 government jobs in the past year. South Carolina, with higher unemployment than all but 18 states, still has distance to go to catch up with the nation’s jobless rate of 7.5 percent, which is also decreasing. ... The economic recovery has been painfully slow in the nation and the state, and every month that sees better conditions is a month to celebrate.
HUBERT D. OSTEEN JR. | EDITOR AND CHAIRMAN
Founded October 15, 1894 20 N. Magnolia St. Sumter, SC 29150
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MARGARET W. OSTEEN 1908-1996 The Item
H. GRAHAM OSTEEN II Co-President
KYLE BROWN OSTEEN Co-President
JOHN DUVALL OSTEEN Vice President and Publisher
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