Letters to the editor: A new 100,000-square-foot library?; We spend billions for a health care system with problems; Visit Oregon’s National Wildlife Refuges this summer

My guess is that I’m among many taxpayers who are surprised and dismayed about how the Library Board is planning to spend our money because, they say, “this is what the voters wanted”.

— Barbara Doherty, Bend

We spend billions for a health care system with problems

Your editorial, “Cost looks like a key argument against universal health care in Oregon,” makes a jaw-dropping point: Oregonians pay billions of dollars a year in health care but get really bad results. The SB 770 Universal Health Care Task Force (of which I am a member) found that without health care change, Oregonians will soon pay $28 billion in premiums and out of pocket payments for bad health care. And that $28 billion will not buy security – Oregonians will still risk bankruptcy if they get the wrong disease at the wrong time.

But if Oregonians enact a single payer plan, health care access increases, risk of financial catastrophe decreases, and we save $1 billion annually. This is not guesswork. Every single payer nation provides better care to more people for less money. Almost every state-based single payer care study (including our own) predicts the same: better care to more people for less money.

Single payer’s greatest obstacle is not financial: It is the preferred health care format among large American businesses, and they know something about finance. The biggest obstacle is emotional. Are Oregonians willing to re-label their health care spending from “premiums” to “taxes?” Even knowing that personal spending on health care exceeds the additional taxes needed for a single payer system, that’s a heavy lift.

But it’s a needed lift. If we want big health care improvement, we need big health care change. Single payer health care is big change, but we get big improvement. Let’s tell that to our legislators.

— Samuel Metz, Portland

Visit Oregon’s national wildlife refuges this summer

Summer has arrived in Bend and with the warm weather comes crowds of people on rivers and trails. Public lands offer some of the best places to explore and most outdoor enthusiasts frequent our National Parks and Forests. But a lesser-known public lands system – that is in no way less than the others – is the U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System.

Oregon is home to 21 national wildlife refuges. All of which prioritize conservation of the fish and wildlife dependent on the refuges’ land and water. Eight of Oregon’s refuges are within a three-hour drive of Bend and offer serene opportunities for hiking, photography, and wildlife viewing.

Thanks to the Department of Interior (DOI), well over half of Oregon’s refuges also allow for angling and hunting. For over 100 years, wildlife refuges have harmoniously integrated conservation and recreation.

Hunters and anglers, some of public lands’ biggest advocates, share the same values found at the core of the refuge system.

Every year, DOI reviews angling and hunting access on refuges across the country. This process is currently taking place and Trout Unlimited is working to expand access and create opportunities for future generations of anglers to experience our country’s refuge system.

Wildlife refuges are some of our most accessible public lands, let’s keep them that way by supporting more angling and hunting on them.

— Jodi Wilmoth is the Trout Unlimited National Leadership Council Representative — Oregon and lives in Bend.