Readers Write: Health care, IRS cuts, missing plant in the Oval Office

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

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The proposed funding cuts for medical research at the National Institutes of Health and the University of Minnesota are not abstract to me (“Researchers, scientists protest Trump’s cuts,” front page, March 8). In 2009, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, stage IV. My form of lymphoma is considered incurable, and I’ve had numerous recurrences.

Lucky for me, I’ve participated in three clinical trials of immunotherapy at the university’s Masonic Cancer Center. Each treatment has beat back cancer for a time, restoring my health until the next recurrence. NIH research in immunotherapy over decades literally has saved my life. I count on these advances for the next treatment that I will inevitably need.

But this progress in treatment for cancer and other chronic diseases depends on robust, ongoing funding. The value of medical research clearly is not valued by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk and his DOGE staff. And Republican members of Congress are refusing to stand up to this shortsighted plan to gut NIH research funding. I urge them to change their minds. My family and I depend on it.

Sally Ann Thompson, St. Anthony

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In December 2024, my husband was diagnosed with metastatic bladder cancer. Eighteen months earlier, this diagnosis would have been a death sentence. But thanks to federally funded research, we can hope for years of durable remission. Remedies like this do not come from private pharmaceutical companies. Those companies research treatments for conditions that affect millions — think obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol — because they exist to make money. If you have a condition that affects hundreds or thousands of people, then federally funded research is all you’ve got.

Yet the Trump and DOGE machine is systematically destroying medical research in the United States. They say they are singling out fraud and waste but are proposing to indiscriminately slash funding for the NIH and research universities like the University of Minnesota. Scientists have been fired and the doors for talented young people seeking careers in science have slammed shut due to hiring freezes. In January, NIH purchasing orders were temporarily paused, disrupting researchers' ability to obtain the reagents and other supplies they need to make lifesaving advances.

Do you think this is making America great? Is this what you voted for? If not, then call your legislators and implore them to restore funding for research. Do it now, please.

Jacqueline Rolfs, St. Anthony

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I just read the March 11 Strib Voices commentary on GLP-1 coverage written by physician and state Sen. Alice Mann, DFL-Edina. She made the case for requiring state-regulated insurance plans to cover this class of drugs that prevents many chronic diseases (“Minnesota could be a leader in requiring coverage of GLP-1 drugs for obesity”). This plea is within a week of the latest state budget forecast, which outlines that we are likely to face a $6 billion deficit.

I don’t dispute the value of these drugs as, at 79 years old, I inject myself with Zepbound (Lilly’s version of the Danish Novo Nordisk drug Ozempic) monthly, and pay out of pocket for this, because I was clinically obese (I have already lost 21 pounds). A few facts: Novo Nordisk had $42 billion in sales and $19 billion in operating profit last year, per their annual report. The monthly list price for Ozempic in Demark is about $122/month. The U.S. monthly list price for the same drug is $969/month. Note: I pay LillyDirect pharmacy about $500/month, including syringes.

Minnesota leadership on this issue would involve a much lower added tax burden if the administration in Washington reconciled the disparity in price of this drug between our countries. I hope our House and Senate members from Minnesota help get that done. Let’s hear soon from our legislators in Washington as to what their approach is to parity on the prices paid for these drugs before finding more ways to waste our Minnesota taxes.

Dennis Sellke, Golden Valley

The writer is a retired medical technology executive.

I’ve noticed that the two businessmen currently running the country, Trump and Musk, are apparently only familiar with one side of the balance sheet. While they have not hesitated to dismantle departments and programs, fire veterans, decrease Veterans Affairs services, discontinue humanitarian aid, threaten to cut funds for research, etc., all in the name of cutting waste and fraud, they have done the same at the Internal Revenue Service (“Erosion of IRS puts its mission in peril,” front page, March 11). Decreasing funding for the IRS decreases their ability to find fraud and catch those who don’t pay their taxes. Thus, the revenue side of the balance sheet is weakened. Any good businessman knows that you need to pay attention to both expenses and revenue. Could it be that depleting the IRS means less scrutiny for Trump, Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and other wealthy supporters of the current administration? Hmm ... seems convenient.

Dan Wolfe, Edina

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Trump and his administration are masters of declaring something they disagree with a problem, taking actions that are damaging rather than curative and then claiming they have fixed the “problem” that they invented. The current attack on the IRS is a case in point. A well-staffed IRS is good for honest taxpayers as it allows questions to be answered, returns to be managed in a timely fashion and taxes that are owed to be collected. When it is a national goal to reduce the budget deficit, it makes no sense to lose large amounts of tax revenue in order to save a small amount of staff expense.

Mark Brakke, Coon Rapids

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Last year I had an IRS problem. For the record, I pay my taxes. A quarterly payment was not recognized and my refund was applied to the next year’s taxes. This was in April. After many letters from me and my accountant, I received form letters saying my account was under review. To get a human on the line was impossible, so I went to the IRS office in Bloomington in September only to be told I needed an appointment, which I was able to make six weeks out in October.

When I went in, a clerk told the person next to me that, as she didn’t have an appointment, she would be behind all the other appointments. So I really didn’t need an appointment. I do have to say: The person I talked to was friendly, but could do nothing for me. I finally got my refund in November and, with the latest proposed cuts to the IRS, I wonder what the results will be. Taxes backed up for months? Fewer audits for millionaires and billionaires? With my experience last year, I suspect any cuts to the IRS would be disastrous.

Jim Waggoner, Bloomington

More than 60 years ago, a Swedish ivy houseplant was given to President John F. Kennedy as a gift from the Irish people. It has been front and center on the mantle in the Oval Office ever since. It has been in iconic photos: Ronald Reagan with Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter with Yitzhak Rabin, George H.W. Bush with Nelson Mandela. It grows prolifically; its cuttings have been given to people from all over the country. It has more progeny than Musk. It also has its own Instagram account.

Now it is missing, replaced by what look like gold golf trophies.

Dale Haney has been the horticulturist in charge of its care, and has worked at the White House for more than 50 years. But the White House has not responded to inquiries regarding the plant’s whereabouts or whether Haney still has his job.

A minuscule matter, but so very emblematic of the Trump administration.

Irving Kellman, Plymouth