Medicare best system for care

I just cannot understand how our government got so chaotic in trying to provide health care for the people.

Why not follow the Medicare system? Or why not follow other developed countries that provide nearly free health care for their people?

My mom lived in Australia and was on kidney dialysis for more than 10 years. She did not have to pay a cent for the service, including transportation.

When she died, we only paid a $25 administration fee. The best thing: The government did not put a lien on her house, so her children and grandchildren use the proceeds from the sale of her house for education.

So what if this is socialized health care? Our Congress and military have socialized health care and we don’t argue about that.

The good thing is that you can always subscribe to a private health insurance plan in addition to having national health care.

Let’s stop this nonsense and get on with it.

Rosita Sipirok-Siregar

Makakilo

—

U.S. borders need to be controlled

I travel frequently and am shocked that liberal Democrats are outraged because illegal immigrants are being targeted for deportation and border enforcement is enhanced.

I’ve traveled to Beijing, Sydney, Korea and Europe. All required at the least a passport and in some cases a visa.

In Atlanta, you had to have your passport ready to travel to Cozumel, Mexico. Canada required a passport.

Allowing undocumented migrants to stay because we’re compassionate is hypocritical. We need borders and proper documentation for the safety of our citizens, as all other countries do.

The U. S. should welcome all legal and documented immigrants via a quota system. Our previous open-border policy had to come to an end. How about those legally documented immigrants who are waiting to come in? Are we being fair and compassionate to them?

Chuck Reindollar

Makiki

—

Keep bicycles off public sidewalks

Our city government has really done it this time, combining error with indifference to create a public safety calamity.

The “error” is the Biki bikeshare program, and the “indifference” is the Honolulu Police Department’s longstanding failure to enforce the ordinances that prohibit riding bicycles on sidewalks in business and tourism districts.

Although my wife and I have walked the sidewalks of Oahu for decades, we have yet to observe a single instance of an HPD officer citing a bicyclist for riding on the sidewalk.

However, every day that we walk, we observe multiple instances of riders on the sidewalks as well as occasional near-collisions.

One of the worst areas is the sidewalk along Ala Wai Boulevard in Waikiki, even though there is a clearly marked bike lane that runs parallel to the walkway.

The city approving the addition of Biki bikes to the sidewalks only makes an already bad situation much worse. They are called sidewalks for a reason.

Mark Brown

Ala Moana

—

Sales tax, gaming can pay for rail

Eight months into my Hawaii residency, I’ve already discovered an all-of-the-above solution to Oahu’s rail project.

For funding:

>> Cut the general excise tax to 2.5 percent and implement a statewide sales tax rate of 5 percent, which is pro-resort and allows tourists and residents to claim ownership over the rail and good schools;

>> Implement a state lottery program with tickets themed around the rail;

>> Allow casinos in Waikiki or in new hotels in Ko Olina;

>> End the line at Saratoga Road in Waikiki so that the Trump Hotel will benefit and federal funding will be shored up (two birds with one stone).

Timothy Hill

Ewa Beach

—

Tax credit hurts rich, poor alike

Democrats in Hawaii have reached new lows.

They don’t like people making $150,000 (single filers) or $300,000 (joint filers), but it appears they don’t like poor people either.

A new law, Act 107, will provide about $16.7 million for poor Hawaii residents through a state earned income tax credit, but will benefit the state general fund even more with $20 million to $40 million a year by raising taxes on higher-income residents (“New law shifts taxes for wealthy and poor residents,” Star-Advertiser, July 11).

So why the big high-fives and leis at the Capitol signing?

A poor married couple with three kids making $40,000 will receive about $568 in tax savings on a $1,261 tax bill. Who can support a family of this size and still pay the state those income taxes?

It seems that the Hawaii Democratic Party is more interested in punishing the “rich” than it is in helping the poor.

Earl Arakaki

Ewa Beach