Voters are allowed to change their minds

I was struck by Jim Howard’s assertion that Obamacare was "Democracy at work. Democracy is compromise. This law is the result of compromise."

Who was involved in this compromise?The law was written by I’m not sure who, brought out and voted on before anyone had a chance to read it (remember the famous Pelosi gaffe) by an all Democratic government.

That doesn’t sound like a compromise.

The vote for Barack Obama in 2012 is not incontrovertible proof that the people want Obamacare. As some of the hidden beauty of this law is revealed, fewer and fewer people are so enamored of it. We the people can change our minds about what’s good and bad based on what’s known now, not just what was known at the end of some previous four-year interval.

And more than $500 million dollars to build a database and website that’s this broken at launch?

Maybe Howard is right. I think it is seriously compromised.

Bob Hickling
Princeville, Kauai

Anti-smoking laws also discriminatory

Your editorial against the proposed "no lying down" billcites these reasons for opposing it:

"… Bill 59 risks discriminating against a single class of people,diverting police from more urgent crimes and siphoning off cityresources better spent on the enforcement and administration ofexisting laws" ("‘No lying down’ bill has too many flaws," Star-Advertiser, Our View, Oct. 8).

Can’t exactly the same be said of the anti-smoking laws, which you didnot oppose? Doesn’t the 14th Amendment to the Constitution prohibitunequal treatment of citizens?

Anthony Oliver
Kailua

Obamacare could affect doctor choice

The American public is being inundated with direct-to-consumer advertising for new Mainland health insurance coverage.

Each plan seems brighter and more comprehensive than the next.

What does not come to the forefront is that the individual cannot see just any physician to be covered, but must see a participating provider, and even then may need an authorization to see a medical specialist.

As a physician, my office is seeing more and more of these plans, and many patients are not aware that they need a referral from their gatekeeper primary care physician or their coverage provider. Even if the plan indicates "gold," if your medical card has HMO on it, then you oftentimes must have a referral from your primary care physician.

Joyce H. Cassen, M.D.
Aina Haina

Open primary gives non-Democrats voice

One issue I have not seen commented upon in the lawsuit regarding the Democratic Party’s efforts to get a closed primaryis the absolute control that party exercises over politics in Hawaii.

Right now, and most of the time since statehood, the Democratic Party controls all seats in Congress and the governorship, and has dominant control in both houses of the Legislature. This effectively closes out voters who choose not to affiliate with the Democrats from an effective vote for any of these offices.

The open primary affords some opportunity to influence who our elected representatives are. It would be a serious mistake to move to a closed primary system.

James V. Pollock
Kaneohe

City should end deal with Humane Society

Your front-page article about Oahu’s animal shelters raises concerns about the Hawaiian Humane Society choosing to stop providing basic services we need to pick up lost pets and address barking dogs (Stray pets overcrowd Oahu’s animal shelters," Star-Advertiser, Oct. 5).

I would like to know what they are doing with the $2.3 million in tax money they still get from the city.

Meantime, private groups and the police are doing whatever they can to provide for the welfare of our community’s animals.

It is time for the city to terminate any contract with the Hawaiian Humane Society and stop giving it money.The city should do the right thing and contract with the groups providing the services we need and pay them instead.

Susan Kane Lucas Govier
Aiea