Readers Write: Grocery prices, police funding, health care reform, Trump cabinet picks

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

It is no surprise that in the Dec. 13 article “Trump hedges on food price promise” the president-elect said that bringing down grocery prices will be “very hard,” which is the direct opposite of what he said on the campaign trail when stating he would bring down the prices for eggs and bacon. He also made a campaign promise that he would bring down the price of gas by at least $1 a gallon. Now he has said he is going to put a 25% tariff on Canada, who happens to be the biggest exporter of crude oil into the United States. Canada’s reply: If he does that, the price of fuel will go up!

Economists across the nation warned that the president-elect’s tariff policies would increase the costs of goods for U.S. consumers. And yet 77 million Americans voted for the man who has been bankrupt six times and has repeatedly been known to fabricate the truth to get what he wants. How many warnings will voters need before they vote for policies that actually would work to lower prices? Leading economists warned us what a second term of Donald Trump’s policies would mean and now Canada has warned us. I was one of the 75 million who voted for his opponent because she had actually had policies to deal with price gouging by corporations, and with high housing and energy prices — not just rhetoric to get elected. Now all of us will have to live with the consequences of the voters who actually believed what he said.

Jan McCarthy, Eden Prairie

In 2021, Minneapolis voters soundly rejected a ballot measure that would have defunded and replaced the Minneapolis Police Department. Last week, the Minneapolis City Council ignored the wishes of their constituents by voting for a budget that will defund the police by cutting $1.8 million from Mayor Jacob Frey’s proposed police department budget (“Frey cites ‘ideology’ in veto of ′25 budget,” Dec. 12 and “City Council votes to override Frey’s budget veto,” Dec. 13). Police reform and public safety are stated top priorities for the City Council, yet they voted to cut $631,000 that would have funded positions for civilian investigators (who handle nonviolent crime investigations, freeing up police officers for more serious work), essentially voting against one of the very police reform programs they champion. In addition, they cut $500,000 from the police recruitment campaign fund.

Bewildering decisions by the City Council are all too common these days, but blatantly ignoring their constituents and making the city less safe by reducing the number of police officers is beyond the pale. The entire City Council is up for election next year, giving us a chance to replace them with rational council members more in tune with voters and committed to public safety.

Steve Millikan, Minneapolis

How very disappointing. The Minnesota Star Tribune reprinted a New York Times op-ed from UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty, giving him a forum to defend his company’s claim-denial rate without pressing him on why that rate is so high or providing any specifics about the lack of “transparency” Witty cites to downplay the damage UnitedHealthcare does (“UnitedHealth Group C.E.O. Andrew Witty: The health care system is flawed. Let’s fix it,” StarTribune.com, Dec. 13). Here’s some of what the Star Tribune could’ve found in a 30-second Google search:

”Last year, UnitedHealthcare settled a case brought by a severely ill college student in Pennsylvania who claimed the company denied coverage for drugs determined necessary by his doctors, leaving him with a medical bill of more than $800,000. The lawsuit, which was chronicled by ProPublica, uncovered the lengths to which the insurer goes to reject claims, including burying medical reports and relying on rubberstamped recommendations from doctors paid by the company,” reads a Dec. 11 CNN article.

The story continues: ”UnitedHealthcare, in particular, has come under public scrutiny as it dramatically increased care denials for its Medicare Advantage enrollees. The insurer more than doubled the rate of denials for care following hospital stays between 2020 and 2022 as it implemented machine-assisted technology to automate the process, according to a Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation’s report released in October. That far surpassed its competitors, including Humana, whose care denials grew 54% during the same time period.”

The list could go on and on. If the Star Tribune wants to live up to its pledge of giving readers in-depth reporting, it must do more than print the self-serving evasions Witty uses to try to let UnitedHealthcare slide off the hook for its blatant profiteering that causes so much real harm to real people.

Steve Schild, Falcon Heights

•••

In a commentary, UnitedHealth Group CEO Witty said that insurers need to be clearer with the public in how insurance-coverage decisions are made. Reminds me of a soft apology — ”I’m sorry you’re hurt” rather than “I’m sorry I hurt you.” Apparently, he sees the problem as one of the public not understanding the process through which denials are determined, rather than the plethora of denials that are issued. In other words, if they understood the process, they’d understand and accept why their claim was denied. I don’t think he gets it.

Andrine Nelson, Minneapolis

•••

Are we becoming desensitized to violent acts of terror as long as they support our point of view? Following Trump’s two assassination attempts, minimal outrage was expressed from the left side of the political aisle. They quickly learned that they didn’t need to pretend they cared. After all, they were dealing with a felon and a fascist; an election was near.

People who would normally cringe at the thought of their fiercest ideological foe being murdered were looking the other way. Many were openly expressing regret that a bullet didn’t take him out.

A slew of news commentators denouncing Thompson’s killing seemed sympathetic to the shooter’s plight as they read the alleged assassin’s manifesto.

“The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the health care system,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said of the response to Thompson’s killing in an interview with The Huffington Post. “Violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far.” Thousands said the same thing after the slaughter of 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023.

Look for a copycat coming to your neck of the woods sometime soon. Making excuses for those who commit violent acts is a slippery slope. Making them heroes is simply insane.

Scott Thompson, Bloomington, Ind.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham wants the woman who accused Pete Hegseth of sexual assault to be released from her confidentiality agreement so she can speak publicly of her assertions (”Hegseth may let accuser speak out,” Dec. 16). As though saying it out loud on TV makes it more true. This isn’t about truth. Sen. Graham just wants to punish and publicly embarrass her. He goes on to say, “I would want to know if anybody nominated for a high-level job in Washington legitimately assaulted somebody.” He does know President-elect Trump was found liable for sexual abuse in a court of law, doesn’t he? Of course he does. What a farce.

Doug Williams, Robbinsdale