Your letters

Health-care reform

A Prescription for Health Care (Viewpoint, August 2009) made many good points but ignored two huge issues: Mental and chronic health management. These both frequently defy the "episode of illness" approach, yet a huge population requires help in those areas. The minimal or eliminated coverage for mental illness commonly practiced by many insurers is a travesty and costs our nation dearly.

Victoria Woolley, MSW, LICSW
Minneapolis

How could you not mention medical malpractice tort reform in your August Viewpoint? While you compare and contrast our current insurance coverage (or lack thereof) to that of other countries, you could also mention how in some countries, when frivolous lawsuits are brought against a defendant, the loser of the lawsuit pays legal fees for both parties. Could reform like this lead to better medical coverage and lower costs? I would think so.

Peter Chenoweth
Saratoga Springs, NY

Antiseptic?

In Which Detergents Cut the Mustard? (Up Front, August 2009), there was no mention of their effects on septic systems. Not everyone with a dishwasher is connected to a city sewer system. I feel left out.

Gloria Donaghy
Snowflake, AZ

Dishwasher detergents that are properly used should be septic safe.

Cool concerns

In your August 2009 issue's Up Front, you reported a review of the Cool Surge portable room cooler. To cool even a small room with the power of a 60-watt lightbulb is ridiculous, but nowhere do they mention the energy needed to freeze the "glacier blocks." Also, here in Florida, an evaporative cooler will not work because of the high humidity. Back in the 1930s, the theaters tried cooling with air, blown over blocks of ice. I well remember they felt like a cave inside. Keep up the good work.

John McKeehan
South Daytona, FL

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