Readers Write: Air crash tragedy, health care, egg prices

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Although it happened on his watch, President Donald Trump blamed Wednesday’s collision between an American Airlines airplane and an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C., on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and the Democrats. This is a recurring pattern for the president. He loves to play the blame game. When the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed his administration, Trump blamed China and Anthony Fauci. When Joe Biden was declared the victor in the 2020 election, Trump blamed the deep state and former Vice President Mike Pence. When he was convicted this past May on 34 felony counts, he called it a witch hunt and blamed a “corrupt” judiciary system. When his freeze on federal spending blew up in his face this week, Trump blamed the media. It’s always somebody else’s fault!

Years ago, President Harry Truman famously placed a sign on his desk in the Oval Office that said: “The Buck Stops Here.” If President Trump were to have such a desk sign, it would read: “Don’t Blame Me!”

Alan Bray, St. Peter, Minn.

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At a time when the nation is shocked by the tragedy of an air crash involving a loss of life we have not seen since 2009, government officials everywhere express sorrow, try to comfort us and gather facts to provide timely, accurate updates to the public.

Not Trump. In the president’s first words after the event, he shamelessly took to the podium to make political points by bizarrely suggesting the crash had somehow been caused by government nondiscrimination efforts in the air traffic control workforce.

The remarks are astonishing, not only for their unsympathetic sleaze, but especially when considering that in the 10 days since the inauguration, his administration froze the hiring of additional air traffic controllers, removed members of a key aviation security advisory group and fired TSA leadership.

David Pederson, Excelsior

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In what world does an elected leader seek to console the devastated families who lost loved ones in a horrific air crash and then proceed to lie, cast blame and engage in completely unsubstantiated and incoherent “musings”? The worst U.S. air disaster in over 15 years and the president engages in attacks against the previous administration and blames “DEI” before any facts are known. What was needed, of course, was empathy, reassurance that a full investigation would take place and that the administration stands ready to assist and comfort. Period. But this president is incapable of maintaining decency for more than a few minutes at a time before he veers off into alternate-reality ranting. Lord have mercy.

Kisten Thompson, New Brighton

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In his comments immediately after having been sworn in on Jan. 21, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that President Trump had clearly outlined the mission of his administration. “Everything we do must be justified by the answer to one of three questions: Does it make us stronger, does it make us safer and does it make us more prosperous? If it doesn’t do one of those three things, we will not do it.”

Those are lofty and honorable objectives. However, it is hard to understand how publicly shaming the former president during the inauguration, pardoning hundreds of people convicted of federal crimes, nominating unqualified people to serve as secretaries of defense and health or politicizing his statement regarding Wednesday’s tragic midair crash over the Potomac achieves any of those three goals. While evaluating the president’s actions and statements over the next four years, we should consider them in the light of his own three questions.

John Brennan, Plymouth

I have been a patient with Allina Health for 30 years. Allina’s doctors and health care professionals have consistently maintained high standards of patient care and continue to do what they can for patients, but they are losing their battle against corporate greed. It was initially heartbreaking but is now infuriating to see Allina prioritize profit over patient well-being. Since my primary care physician retired three years ago, I haven’t been able to find a physician at Allina due to a shortage of providers. The reluctance of young, qualified doctors to work for Allina harms patients.

This month my elderly mother had an acute infection and had standing lab orders from her physician, yet she could only secure a lab appointment 15 days after her symptoms began. Waiting 15 days for a basic lab test and prescription harms patients. I wish I could say this scenario was the exception, but it is definitely the rule. Allina’s lack of timely care appointments and outsourcing of simple lab work that could be done in-house within minutes is detrimental to patient care. The unionization of physicians should have alerted Allina executives that their providers are overextended. Similarly, the fact that patients are underserved should be a red flag. The time has passed for Allina executives to walk back their inhumane policies that prioritize executive profit over care, or they will self-destruct and take us all down with them.

Amy Lemieux, Inver Grove Heights

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The failure to determine the actual rate of denials in the processing of claims is another feature of our opaque and dysfunctional health care system (“UHG had high denial rates in ′23, report says," Jan. 28). It does not have to be this way.

Consider the French health care system. Every citizen has a “carte vitale” that contains all the billing information embedded in a computer chip. The physician inserts the card into a reader that transmits the necessary information to the insurance plan of the patient. The plan must pay the bill within one week — with few exceptions, the bill is paid with no denials and no delays.

So there is no need for physicians or the health care systems to have a small army of clerks to comply with the differing billing procedures of numerous health insurance companies or for the companies to employ an even larger army of clerks and managers to review and to deny claims. The administrative costs of the French health care system are about one-quarter of the costs sunk into the fragmented American quagmire.

The French government acts for the insurance plans to negotiate the costs of standard medical services with the union of physicians and the costs of prescriptions with the drug companies. A patient may also purchase supplemental health insurance with broader coverage for a premium that is even less than the premium for basic coverage. For more details, see T.R. Reid’s book, "The Healing of America."

Notwithstanding the enormous savings inherent in the French health care system, there may be some who have an allergic reaction to any model not developed in our country. For an alternative designed by state Sen. John Marty with similar advantages, see the Minnesota Health Plan at johnmarty.org/post/healthcare.

Michael W. McNabb, Lakeville

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s response to a question about high egg prices:

“As far as the egg shortage, what’s also contributing to that is that the Biden administration and the Department of Agriculture directed the mass killing of more than 100 million chickens, which has led to a lack of chicken supply in this country, therefore, a lack of egg supply, which is leading to the shortage.”

Notably missing in her response are the words “avian flu.” It appears the Trump administration doesn’t have any qualms about letting contaminated poultry products into the food supply. Just like COVID-19, ignoring a problem won’t make it go away.

Jim Wacek, Rogers

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Dear Mr. President, you have been in office for 12 days now, but the price of my eggs is still high. Anything on the horizon for this issue?

Al Leberknight, Prior Lake