Expanding Medicaid will help rural hospitals
Supporters of a bill that would allow the construction of hospitals in rural Georgia pitched it as a support for rural healthcare. Georgia legislators have steadfastly refused to expand Medicaid; and, in fact, appear poised to allow thousands of Georgians covered by Medicaid to lose that coverage.
I am a healthcare attorney who represents hospitals and healthcare systems across Georgia. If Georgia legislators are serious about “solving” the healthcare crisis in rural Georgia, more hospitals are not the answer. Instead, supporting existing established hospitals in these communities that have provided critical health care services to their communities and have struggled for years to remain open is the answer.
The first and most impactful step legislators can take to support these rural hospitals is expanding Medicaid. More patients covered by Medicaid means hospitals will be paid for services provided to more patients. The fact that these Georgia citizens will receive critically necessary healthcare services and lead healthier, longer, and more productive lives is an added bonus.
DAN MOHAN, MARIETTA
Nation is self-destructing with corrupt government
Years ago, then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan stated, “Freedom is a fragile thing, and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation...”
Our current government is corrupt, with the once-honored FBI, DOJ and a degraded presidency at the top of the list. I believe President Reagan’s fear has arrived. Because abuses committed by our own government officials are ignored by the media and a populace increasingly rejecting the moral values of religion, our country is rapidly degrading into a Third World banana republic.
I fear that because our current generation lacks ethical values, rejects patriotism, has little knowledge of the factual history of our country and has simply been reduced to zombie-like “screen gazers,” our nation is self-destructing.
The generation that Ronald Reagan feared has arrived and is in charge. May God save our country!
ERNEST WADE, LOGANVILLE
