Letters: Illinois Senate is foolish to advance medical debt legislation

Regarding the article “Ill. Senate passes legislation that would strip medical debt from credit reports” (April 13): What is the Illinois Senate thinking? Sure, much medical debt is not incurred willingly, but what does that have to do with anything? Credit reports are not about personal blame or merit; they are financial information. The fact that a person did not choose to get injured or sick has nothing to do with the fact that having a major debt means the individual is less able to pay off other debts.

This legislation means that potential creditors would be expected to extend credit (car loans, mortgages, credit cards, etc.) on the assumption that the applicant can pay when in fact that may not be true.

State Sen. Steve Stadelman seems to be under the impression that debt that wasn’t incurred willfully is irrelevant to ability to pay. “No one should have to go into medical debt just to get the quality health care they need,” he said. As an ideal moral position, that’s fine, but so what? The bill is about circumstances in which the person did in fact go into medical debt; “should” is not the issue. The same logic would indicate that potential lenders could also be lied to about whether the applicant still has a job (they shouldn’t have been laid off) or how much rent they pay (they didn’t ask the landlord to increase the rent).

And by the way, doesn’t “medical debt” include debt incurred for elective cosmetic surgery and other vanity procedures? That just adds to the silliness of this legislation. It’s silly enough if you think only of the costs of truly necessary treatment.

And senators passed this bill 58-0. No one said, “Wait, do we really want to authorize credit applicants to deceive the lenders?” Brilliant.

These are the people we are trusting to run a responsible state budget.

— Steven Gruenwald, Schaumburg

Supreme Court’s bribery case

Is it ironic or surprising that a Supreme Court loaded with Donald Trump appointees looks to be leaning toward opening the door for new definitions of bribery? One justice speculated that prosecutors are perhaps being too zealous in pursuing these cases. Aren’t the justices supposed to be looking at laws and constitutionality versus analyzing the behavior of prosecutors?

If the James Snyder case is overturned by this court, God help Illinois citizens. Too many politicians are lining their pockets and those of their “supporters” usurping the existing laws.

— Ken Stead, Aurora

Congressman’s racist accusations

U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson was recently recorded at a private event making a series of baseless and blatantly racist accusations against members of the Chicago Fire Department and the Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2. Jackson’s despicable allegations are an abhorrent insult to the fine members of the CFD.

In my own 35-year-plus career, most of it spent in one of the busiest firehouses in Chicago, working with members of all races and ethnic backgrounds, I never once encountered a situation in which someone failed to give it their all because of the race of the victims. I have never spoken to anyone who has.

The Tribune has a long and well-established track record of rigorous and exhaustive coverage of race-related issues, particularly those pertaining to the CFD, as well as the Chicago Police Department. Past race-related coverage regarding the CFD has left no stone unturned and no racial angle unexplored.

I certainly look forward to the Tribune’s thorough investigation and reporting on this defamatory racial attack on the good name and reputation of the fine and diverse membership of the CFD.

— James E. McNally, retired Chicago firefighter and past president, CFFU Local 2, Chicago

Dreams of Black and brown kids

Regarding the editorial “Stacy Davis Gates throws down a ‘$50 billion and 3 cents’ CTU gauntlet” (March 10): Black and brown children can dream, too. They can have dreams of fully funded schools. They can have dreams that, regardless of their ZIP code, they will receive a world-class education from schools that are fully funded, staffed and resourced.

They can have dreams that they and their communities matter equally to policymakers. They can have dreams that they will have opportunities to explore fine arts and sports programs to their fullest extent.

They have dreams that matter, too.

— Angela E. Poole, Munster, Indiana

COPA chief’s premature remarks

In agreement with the editorial “COPA leader needs to better build public confidence in Dexter Reed police investigation” (April 16) regarding the timing of Civilian Office of Police Accountability chief administrator Andrea Kersten’s comments about the Dexter Reed shooting, Kersten should refrain from making premature statements, thereby putting her objectivity in question so early in the investigation.

Vocalizing her suspicions that police officers lied about the circumstances of the traffic stop of Reed and providing unsolicited opinions regarding the proportionality of the police response to Reed’s shooting a police officer indicate that Kersten has a predisposition to find fault with the officers’ actions.

Included in COPA’s stated vision and mission statement is to conduct fair, timely and thorough investigations. For Kersten to provide such comments so early in the Reed shooting investigation is unfair and inconsistent with COPA’s goals.

— Terry Takash, Western Springs

Blow to Boeing and US dominance

Recent news about structural and performance failures involving Boeing aircraft are a bad omen for U.S. industrial dominance worldwide.

During World War II, Boeing’s Flying Fortresses based in England were instrumental in bombing Nazi Germany into submission. And a Boeing bomber delivered the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, hastening Japan’s surrender, which did not follow the dropping of conventional incendiary bombs on Tokyo and Yokohama. Warfare is inherently brutal, but better to dominate and win than to lose, and Boeing’s reliable bombers were instrumental in our victory in 1945.

But lately, trust in Boeing’s reliability has been questioned by quality issues, such as the loss of a door in flight. Such events destroy trust and end reliability. Often, global demand switches to other aircraft, which can blunt U.S. industrial dominance in the category. Bad for business.

Is American industry losing its edge earned from generations of top-quality leadership? Prioritizing profit over reliability can do that. So can sloppy quality control. Customers can switch to other brands made elsewhere.

For the sake of America’s industrial standing, pray that those events do not contaminate the global appeal of American-made goods.

— Ted Z. Manuel, Chicago  

Widespread destruction of war

While nothing can compare with the loss of human life, what also saddens me are the photos of buildings, homes, bridges and even churches lying in silent piles of rubble and debris. Men and boys, saddened and dazed, pick their way through the destruction in slow motion. Someone tosses a board here, a brick there, and to what end? Does this small gesture bring some sort of comfort to people who have lost everything?

While we weep at the loss of human life, there should also be sadness at the loss of the showcases of humankind’s remarkable creativity. Structures can be built again, with great effort and difficulty,  but never really replicated.

— Kathleen Melia, Niles

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.