Dear Mr Editor... Healthcare Reform Now!

Yes, I am still on fire about this issue! It looks like this passionate, controversial debate is one that will be around for years to come, as the same sentiment racketed up during the Obama campaign are now being exploited by the neo-Cons and their cronnies. Here is my letter to the editor of the North Carolina daily publication, the Asheville Citizen-Times, in which I whole-heartedly pour out my feelings regarding this issue (albeit not as in-dept as I would have liked due to a 200-word limitation).


AS AN American citizen, from South Asheville, currently living in England, I felt I needed to respond to all the criticism being thrown at the British National Health Service (NHS).
The attacks against the NHS by American news reports are both misleading and unfair. I have used the NHS for the whole time I have been here and, contrary to what Americans may think, I have experienced no problems with excessive waiting time, doctor availability or quality of service. In fact, in working for the British media I have noticed the many, many good points of the healthcare industry here. For example, the swift response to the swine flu outbreak put Britain ahead of most other Western countries with the launch of a National Pandemic Flu Service. Britain also enjoys a higher life expectancy rate at 79.1 years, compared with the USA at 78.1 years. The infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births is only 4.8 in Britain, compared with 6.7 in the USA. This is all managed with Britain spending only 8.4 percent of its GDP expenditure on healthcare, while the USA squanders more than 16 percent and more than any other Western nation.
Britons have also been quick to defend their healthcare system against damning American news reports, which seem keen on focusing on the disdain of a select few Conservative Tory politicians who have been deemed ‘eccentrics’ by their own parties. The vast majority of people here love their system, which they call egalitarian, efficient, and best-of-all, free.
Yes, okay, there are problems as with every system but Britons unhappy with the Government option can just as easily go private - where they will still be confronted with lower costs than in the USA thanks to heavier regulation in controlling medicinal costs.
Every day 510 people in North Carolina lose their healthcare coverage. Without reform, those who still have insurance will see their yearly premiums go up by $8,938 in the next decade to a staggering $21,590. We need reform now.

Asheville Tram and a Green Transit Future

By independent blogger/journalist Robert Platt

Asheville's Transportation Future - Tram

A tram system would be splendid for the city of Asheville. The city and county are both poised to take on continuous population growth and a tram system would be cost-effective and green.

It would prove popular as has been shown time and time and time again in cities that have re-introduced modern tram networks, such as Nice (France), Manchester (UK), Amsterdam, San Diego and Portland (Oregon). This move would finally restore faith in a public transport system (which city's are increasingly noticing and thus taking action) and people would subsequently ditch their cars, or at least put them somewhere out of sight for the day, with the knowledge there would be no need for vehicles in a pedestrian-embracing city. This move would also benefit businesses in the downtown district, bringing much-needed economic stimulation from an increased volume of foot traffic from visitors who might have otherwise been in a vehicle.

It would encourage development to perhaps neglected parts of the city while bringing more attention on the city. It would become iconic and a memorable feature of a city that is increasingly dubbed "San Francisco of the East" and "Paris of the South". It would spread Asheville's blossoming reputation as a green city to far reaches of the country and perhaps even overseas. It would be innovative, daring, European, chic, unique and most-of-all attractive. Trams are beautiful and they beautify cities and it would make Asheville even more sexier than it already is. Bring on the tram!