This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
B.J. Van Roosendaal suggested that we have "health-care death panels" right here in Utah and that House Speaker Becky Lockhart and a majority of the GOP Legislature may be responsible for the deaths of some of their citizens. ("GOP legislators' decisions on health care may cost lives," Forum, March 11).
I completely agree but would go a step further. The citizens who continue to vote for these people also have blood on their hands.
According to a study by researchers from Harvard University and City University of New York, as many as 17,000 Americans will die as a direct result of states deciding not to expand Medicaid under Obamacare (ACA).
The Republicans in Utah would apparently rather see citizens die than implement a program initiated by a (gasp) Democratic president. As Samuel Dickman, one of the authors of the study, said, "Political decisions have consequences, some of them lethal."
So voters, if someone you love dies because of this policy, will you still vote for any uncaring fool on the ballot because he/she has an "R" after the name? Votes have consequences, too.
Susan Christensen
Salt Lake City