To listen to the TV ads, you’d think the Affordable Care Act was the worst thing that has happened to our country in recent years.
I don’t want to get into a long discussion about the larger issues with the ACA, but I would like to speak to my own personal experience with the law.
My daughter has rheumatoid arthritis, which under the old law was considered a “pre-existing condition.” It was extremely difficult for us to find insurance for her. With the help of a great agent, we were able to cover her under a “group of one” based on her home business. Under this plan, we paid $879.89 per month for a bare bones policy, which we felt lucky to have. Under the new rules, the insurance company no longer insures a “group of one” so we looked at the Healtcare.gov website, where we found a much better policy with a much lower deductible and now pay $454.59 per month. This is for a “Gold 1000” policy. We could have paid less for a silver or bronze plan but chose the gold policy because it had better coverage. My daughter doesn’t qualify for subsidies. We spent less than an hour online in January.
In December I helped a family friend find health insurance. Before, she was paying $350 a month for a policy with a $10,000 deductible, which did not pay for the medical services she needed. We spent an hour and a half on the healthcare.gov website. She did qualify for subsidies and now pays $54 per month for a silver policy with a $2,000 deductible that covers her medications and other critical services.
My wife, my son and I have individual policies that were “grandfathered.” My wife and my premiums went up slightly as it has done over the years; our son’s premiums went down.
I realize not everyone has had a good experience with the ACA, and there are certainly areas that need improvement, but this is my story and it was a good one.
— Edward Norvell
Salisbury

We, the people of Rowan County, should exercise our rights as taxpayers in terms of decisions made by county commissioners regarding the future of Rowan County. Obviously, the county commissioners (with the exception of Jon Barber) have made it clear that they are not interested in what the people of Rowan County mandate. My question is, what can Rowan County citizens do to stop this madness? Is a petition of protest an option or must we seek impeachment procedures against county commissioners to stop this madness? Surely the commissioners can be forced via some legal means to accept public feedback concerning some of their decisions prior to implementation, especially the mall situation.
— Mae Carroll
Salisbury

When I opened the Salisbury Post Friday morning, I was shocked and saddened to read that a very good friend of mine was killed in Honduras. I have known Ron Kenerly since the ’60s. He was a very kind person with a big and warm heart! He never met a stranger. I had lost contact with him and had not seen him in 30-some years. He was a passionate man, and I know that he loved his family. My prayers and thoughts go out to Dwight and the rest of Ron’s family. May God bless you all, be with you and give you all comfort in your loss.
— Bob Wood
Granite Quarry

I visited the lost and found department at a local business where I thought I might have lost my keys. They were gracious and allowed me to look through their lost box of keys. I did not find mine, but was surprised at how many lost keys they had gathered. The majority of key rings contained expensive electronic car keys, and reward tags from chain stores. Would it not be a good idea to have these keys scanned at related chain stores to find the rightful owners? Customers publicize their identity when trading information for an award card.
Sure, that would take a little time, so let’s just call it stewardship.
— Patricia Alexander
Salisbury

The federal farm bill recently signed into law by President Obama contains a provision that overrides an EPA ruling to phase out the toxic fumigant sulfuryl fluoride because it leaves unsafe levels of fluoride residue on food.
The aggregate dose that children receive from these residues along with the fluoride from other sources, including fluoridated water and dental products, exceeds the EPA’s safe reference dose for fluoride — especially in the case of infants and children — which is why the EPA started the process of phasing out sulfuryl fluoride.
Lobbyists for Dow AgroSciences and the National Pest Management Association worked to get a provision into the farm bill to reverse the EPA recommendation. This not only undermines the credibility of the EPA’s pesticide division but also delivers a critical blow to the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), which was designed by Congress to provide stronger protections for infants and children from pesticides.
Of the developed nations, only the U.S. and Australia apply this fumigant directly to food. The rest of the world has shown that sulfuryl fluoride is not necessary for the safe storage and handling of our food supply, given the availability of other methods.
Our kids are already getting far too much fluoride as evidenced by the fact that 41 percent of American adolescents have some form of dental fluorosis, a sign that they have experienced the early signs of fluoride poisoning.
Even worse, a recent meta-analysis by Harvard scientists reported that 26 of 27 studies investigating the relationship between IQ and elevated fluoride in water have found a reduction of IQ, with an average drop of 7 IQ points.
With the increased exposure to fluoride that this Dow crafted Congressional vote will bring it is more urgent than ever that we end water fluoridation wherever this outdated practice is still in force. Go to www.FluorideAlert.org and watch the 10 Facts on fluoridation. Don’t let ill-informed bullies persuade you that this foolish practice is a sensible idea.
— Jon Anderson
Kannapolis

I want to thank the folks who put the Winter Wine event together. We (the Tilley’s H-D/Salisbury Harley Owners Group) made this a chapter event and came out to walk, talk, laugh and enjoy all the wines and shops downtown Salisbury has to offer. I can say we had a wonderful time and really enjoyed talking with Harley riders and non-riders. Many of us ended the evening eating at different establishments in Salisbury, so I think the event was a win-win for Salisbury and us. Thank you again for a wonderful Winter Friday night event. We look forward to what you will have planned next.
— Grant Eagle
Concord