COST ISSUES

STATE COULD IMPROVE HEALTHCARE CLIMATE

I appreciated reading the article "Hawai'i losing its doctors" (Page One, Jan. 28).

Like it or not, Hawai'i is competing with 49 other states for a limited number of quality physicians and other healthcare providers.

Improved reimbursement and elimination of the general excise tax on healthcare service will improve the reputation of Hawai'i as a desirable place to practice.

Health insurance that cost a small business in Hawai'i $1,800 in 1996 cost $3,375 in 2006. Over the past 10 years, the largest healthcare insurer in Hawai'i increased premiums to small businesses by 87 percent while decreasing the reimbursement to those providing healthcare by 40 percent.

Sen. Daniel Inouye noted last year that he believed the state would be unlikely to obtain improved Medicare reimbursement. The state does have the power to eliminate the general excise tax for healthcare providers. The only other state that taxes healthcare services is Minnesota (2 percent). Many local insurance carriers do not reimburse the general excise tax as a plan benefit, leaving it to physicians to collect and sometimes pay out of their own practice expense. Curiously, the health insurance companies are exempt from the same tax.

While fair reimbursement is not the only factor in choosing a practice location, a favorable business climate is necessary.

I receive job offers on a weekly basis. Most offer starting salaries well beyond our regional market. I hope that I can continue to throw them into the waste basket.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

PURTZER WON HEARTS OF TOURNEY VOLUNTEERS

Serving as a volunteer at The Champions Tour golf tournament at Turtle Bay this past week, I had the opportunity to score for senior golf professional Tom Purtzer and his amateur team during the Pro Am tournament. While Tom Purtzer finished tied for second in the tournament, he clearly was the "real champion" to the volunteers who worked on the course during the tournament.

Tom went over to every volunteer on the 18-hole round during the Pro Am and personally thanked them for volunteering and working the tournament.

This was "world class" and deeply appreciated by all the wonderful volunteers who donate their time to act as marshalls and sit on the 18 holes during the tournament. One volunteer told me that she has been volunteering for six years and never had anyone thank her personally like Tom Purtzer did.

So while Fred Funk won the trophy, Tom Purtzer won the hearts of all the volunteers at Turtle Bay. Congratulations Tom Purtzer, and a sincere mahalo from all the volunteers at the tournament!

EDUCATION

BOE, DOE INCAPABLE OF IMPROVING SCHOOLS

Thanks to Russell Robison, a teacher, for his insights into Hawai'i's public school system (Island Voices, Jan. 29).

Mr. Robison criticizes the Board of Education and the Department of Education for issuing mandates to teachers without providing adequate resources, making it difficult for them to do their jobs. No wonder teacher morale is low.

His examples show that the BOE and the DOE are so removed from the day-to-day realities of the classroom that they do not understand the kind of support that teachers need.

Mr. Robison hopes that the BOE and DOE will change for the better. His optimism is understandable. Everyone hopes that public education will somehow improve.

However, this hope is not founded on any material evidence. It is the kind of hope that is dysfunctional because it inhibits action, allowing the BOE and DOE to continue to frustrate teachers. So education continues to suffer.

It would be more useful to realize that there is little or no hope for the BOE or the DOE to improve the quality of education — at least not in the foreseeable future. This realization might motivate people to create innovative alternatives for public education that would better serve Hawai'i's children.

COMMUNICATION

HECO SHOULD BETTER EXPLAIN POWER OUTAGES

Hawaiian Electric Co. has a ton of excuses for its frequent outages.

Trees fall on power lines when the power lines are placed next to trees and trees are not properly maintained.

It's the same story in the case of poles going down because there was no preventive maintenance program to properly identify potential problems before they cause outages.

The public is entitled to hear what causes these frequent problems, and what they are doing to prevent them in the future, not from their spokesperson but rather from the CEO.

WAR

WE HAVE BEEN DUPED OVER IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN

I don't know where Chip Davey (Letters, Jan. 29) gets his inspiration from. "Fifty-eight men from Hawai'i — heroes all — volunteer to go back to Afghanistan and/or Iraq."

First, Iraq. We have destroyed that country so miserably that no "heroes," let alone 58, can solve that monstrous mess.

More than 50,000 American troops have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. That includes hostile and non-hostile injuries from mental and physical illnesses that developed in the war zone. (Source: New York Times, Jan. 30).

Should those "heroes" increase those numbers? What for? The Iraq war is already lost.

Second, Afghanistan. Two previous world powers, Great Britain and Russia, have tried to occupy and force their political will on that poor country. What makes our leadership think that we can break the Afghans' will for self-determination? We will get kicked out of Afghanistan just like two previous superpowers. And both are superpowers no more.

Anyone trying to prolong the actual defeat in Iraq and the forthcoming defeat in Afghanistan should not be called "heroes."

I would, sadly, call them duped. (Deceived?)