Medicare enrollment
The annual Medicare enrollment period is here.
Our televisions are airing non-stop commercials regarding the choice of Medicare options and plans. Some of these commercials demean our senior population with tactics to get them to call the number on the screen: “Call now, it’s free!”
Since when did the health insurance needs, guaranteed to our seniors, become so complicated and fraught with decisions?
Why must we evaluate “the best plans” available every year and choose, sometimes to our disadvantage, a different plan?
Why does a Medicare Advantage Plan ostensibly offer better coverage than a traditional Medicare plan with a medicare supplement?
The answer is, it may or may not, depending on many factors: its network, the doctors associated with the plan and other unknown factors.
Our health-care system for seniors is a hybrid of guaranteed benefits by the federal government (Medicare) and the broadening and extension of these benefits, offered in the marketplace as Medicare Supplements. Purchasing these extended benefits can be a perplexing, challenging decision to be made each year as retirees grow older.
Prescription drug plans (Medicare-Part D) are another nightmare with insurance companies changing their formulary guides and how they choose to classify drugs each year. So it becomes a “musical chairs” game for some retirees who change drug plans every year.
And what about all these “drug discount cards?” How can a free card sometimes provide a lower cost on a prescription drug than your Medicare drug plan, for which you pay monthly premiums? Do we really deserve a “donut hole” in drug coverage?
I have never been a proponent of a universal healthcare system, but perhaps the time has come when we should provide a better, simpler solution to the healthcare needs of our senior population. They paid their dues into our Medicare system and certainly deserve better.
Robert Karl, Murphy
Slow down & enjoy the ride
By chance, I made my way home through Martins Creek one beautiful fall Wednesday afternoon.
Not long into my drive, I came upon a truck and trailer loaded down with what appeared to be collard greens.
At this particular time, I wasn’t in a big hurry to get anywhere, so I laid back and began to enjoy the ride. It had been years since I’ve taken a slow and easy ride through the winding and narrow two-lane I had traveled so often in years’ past.
It seems that everywhere I go, I’m being pushed. Pushed to go faster or pushed to get out of the way. But there was no pushing this guy, and I enjoyed every moment.
Folks, when people move to a small area for the beautiful scenery, the peaceful living, there is much more going on. You may have just arrived, but this area has been moving and flourishing in ways that cannot be described with mere words.
There is an air about this place, a heritage, a history that very few are aware of.
Riding behind a work truck, whether it be an old log truck, a tractor hauling hay or a truck overloaded with collard greens that loses a bundle or two when a bump in the road is too much for the load.
This is country life. Respect it; enjoy it. It’s what a slower pace of life is all about.
So, if you’re running late, or if you’re just impatient on the road, maybe next time leave a little earlier.
Just a suggestion, so, slow down and enjoy the ride – then maybe everyone else will, too.
S.J. Plemmons, Murphy
Four Square needs helpers
Four Square Community Action is asking for your help to serve our community. As the needs of our communities’ children, families, senior adults and disabled residents continue to increase, the need for service-minded people willing to help Four Square serve those needs also rises.
Four Square provides an array of services for low-income families: supplemental food services, transportation for medical services, home repairs and remediation, and early childhood education to name a few.
As cold weather approaches these needs intensify and require prompt attention. Of course, like most non-profit organizations our budget limits our ability to hire extra staff.
We do have some job vacancies that have been difficult to fill. Although we need a construction field supervisor, an expert office manager and some Head Start teachers, much of the ongoing work needs to move forward, and could be supported by a dedicated team of volunteers giving a few hours each week.
Four Square serves a four-county region in western North Carolina – Cherokee, Clay, Graham and Swain. Although our primary office is in Andrews, volunteers are needed in each of the four counties.
Do you or your organization have talents that could serve to meet the needs of our fellow community members? We will gladly welcome friendly and compassionate helpers to aid in delivering food boxes to families, assistance for our Head Start teachers with child service programs, building access ramps for disabled and even general office needs.
If you have a heart and are willing to help us serve, please give us a call at 828-321-4475.
Dr. Sue Lynn Ledford, Andrews
The writer is executive director of Four Square Community Action Agency.
Just what is Hamas?
The word is an acronym for the Arabic words for Islamic Resistance Movement. As an organization with many parts – including military, political, administrative and covert – they claim connections to the Muslim Holy Book, the Quran.
Its formation is an outcropping of the Muslim Brotherhood of the 1920s. Hamas ideology and objectives are clearly stated and can be found in their charter. They are a contemporary radical terrorist organization and are devoted to the destruction of Israel, the “Zionist entity” through “Jihad” (Holy War).
Hamas considers the existence of the nation of Israel an affront to Islam. Consequently, no compromise with or recognition of Israel is possible. Hamas opposes Middle East peace. They readily adopt the language of leftist extremism, referring to Israel as a neo-colonial entity. Hamas-sponsored media has published and continues to publish vicious anti-Semitic and anti-American vitriol.
While all Palestinians are not necessarily members of Hamas, many have acquiesced to their control over a number of years. If you were a student in Gaza recently, you would have a high probability of having been taught to hate Jews.
The recent monstrous Hamas invasion Oct. 7 against Israel clearly illustrates that point. The horrible acts of extreme violence involving murder, kidnapping, beheadings, burnings, rapes and mutilations of innocent mostly unarmed civilians, children and families, elders and even family pets shows the depravity of those who took part in that invasion.
While Jew hatred is not a new fact in contemporary radical Islamic thought, many people were not aware that in November 1942, Adolph Hitler held a secret meeting with the Grand Mufti of Palestine, a cleric named Houmeinie who was the head of Muslims.
Hitler was pleased to learn that the Mufti supported his notion of “the Final Solution,” otherwise known as destruction of the Jews. Houmeinie further supported Hitler’s war efforts by providing nine Muslim Divisions (two Tank or Panzer Divisions, and seven Infantry Divisions) to Hitler’s Third Reich.
Fortunately for the Allies, they were defeated. However, the anti-Semitic thought and evil that came with it continues to live and spread hate across the world.
John R. Cassady, Murphy
Learn more about meth
Methamphetamine is a potent stimulant that has the potential to cause delusions, hallucinations and paranoia. Meth causes people to stay up late, which leads to this negative behavior.
Some people might believe that methamphetamine overdose is practically unheard of. The problem is that although methamphetamine overdoses are uncommon, they have recently peaked.
Heroin and cocaine are the most typical ingredients in speed-balls. Numerous people have died as a result of speed-balling. However, fentanyl has made it much deadlier recently. The increase in overdoses is caused by the addition of fentanyl to drugs. Up to 50 times as potent as heroin and 100 times as potent as morphine, respectively, is fentanyl.
Users are not even aware of what they are taking due to the extreme potency of fentanyl and the fact that it is added secretly to stimulants. They are unsure of why using makes them feel different.
An intense rush occurs when an opioid and a stimulant are combined. To “counteract” each drug’s negative side effects, they use speed-balls.
Meth can make a person anxious, agitated and paranoid, whereas fentanyl can make a person feel sleepy and have trouble staying awake. These two cancel each other out when they are combined. However, there is a higher risk when using two different drugs.
To learn what to look for, visit narcononnewliferetreat.org/blog/meth-and-fentanyl-the-new-speedball.html.
Matthew Goodson, Denham Springs, La.
The writer is with Narconon NewLife Retreat Drug Education & Rehabilitation Center.