Lee Health insurance decision a blow to seniors

News Lee Health insurance decision a blow to seniors | Opinion letters Lee Health, United Healthcare The recent decision by Lee Health to stop accepting United Healthcare Medicare Advantage Health Plans was quite a blow to thousands of seniors, my wife and I included. The reason given was that "on-going challenges have not been met." Translation − our profit profile is not on a favorable trajectory. Lee Health in Cape Coral is virtually our only option for treatment. Couple that with the fact that both of us have donated our time as volunteers there for 13 years and this is the thanks we received. We love our insurance and, at our advanced age, searching for another provider is the last thing we want to do. Our local gym stopped accepting the Silver Sneakers part our plan because of the reimbursement time it took to receive their funds. It always comes down to money and, since Lee Health is now a for-profit entity, this callous behavior is paramount to the times we live in. Glenn Chenot, Cape Coral Childhood vaccines proposal Our public health officials in Tallahassee are giving the public only until September 14 to comment on their proposed removal of four vaccines from the list of immunizations that children must receive prior to entering day care or public school. The four vaccines are for the prevention of the following: chickenpox; hepatitis B; Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib); and pneumococcal disease. The American Academy of Pediatrics and other highly respected medical organizations are opposed to these proposed changes. The infections these vaccines prevent are communicable diseases, so your unvaccinated child could contract hepatitis B, for example, if in close contact with an infected individual who does not yet know he/she is infected. Babies infected with Hepatitis B have a 90% chance of developing liver damage. Chickenpox, Hib, and pneumococcal disease can cause dangerous inflammation of the brain or spinal cord and can cause other avoidable conditions. Please email your concerns to vaccinerule@flhealth.gov today. Patricia Duncan, Fort Myers Social Security tax cap In 2026 the Social Security tax cap is $184,500. Six percent of the working population earns more than that, but don't pay on their full year's earnings. Payroll taxes are regressive and clearly favor the rich. Everyone should pay for the whole year - the rich would still be getting a break - and the life of the program would be extended substantially.Our national debt is over 40 trillion dollars. We spend about $3 billion per day in interest on that debt (Treasury bonds, notes, and bills). Our debt exceeds our economic activity, our GDP, by 25%. That's ridiculous and not sustainable. Anyone who's ever owned a home knows the solution: spend less or generate more revenue. For the government, more revenue means higher taxes. We need smart selfless people to make tough inescapable decisions.All four presidents this century are guilty of adding to our debt. Trump likes to win and by the end of his second term he'll be the clear leader in budgetary incompetence. His impetuous war on Iran is extremely expensive. While threatening to cut programs like Social Security and Medicaid, Trump spends billions on vanity projects and weekend trips to Mar-a-Lago. Trump's self-enrichment projects continue to fill his deep pockets. His crypto corruption and pay-to-play appointments and pardons are transparent. Billionaires' donations buy access and influence. If only his scheming and wizardry could be used to balance the budget. Kevin McNally, Bonita Springs Donalds isn't telling us the truth So why is governor candidate Donalds saying Jolly is going to raise taxes on overtime, tips, and Social Security? Florida has no state income tax! These are federal matters. Donalds needs to start telling the truth in his ads and begin focusing on affordability, our environment, and property tax issues. That's what matters to us most. Steve Hostick, Cape Coral U.S. casualties in Maduro capture To the letter-writing gentleman who claimed that no military were harmed during the capture of Maduro, that is false. Seven American special ops were wounded, some with gunshot wounds and shrapnel injuries. This included helicopter pilots hit by enemy gunfire. After recovery from treatment at a Texas hospital, Eric Slover, a helicopter pilot who was badly wounded, received the Congressional Medal of Honor. Beth Summer, Naples Republican Party platform Last week one of the most prolific far right radical posters penned a succinct letter to the editor. It centered on what matters most to Americans. No it wasn't the Trump induced war on Iran, or the subsequent jump in your gasoline costs, or your grocery bill, insurance bill, or the apparent lack of oversight in food safety, or crazy vaccine recommendations. He wasn't concerned about the Trump-created global tariff wars whereby you paid more for goods but the refunds went to corporations who overcharged you. Or that our friends from Canada are avoiding border states and travel to Mexico instead of Florida for some sun in wintertime. No, it's not global tensions, nor Russia or North Korea or the dismantling of the rock-solid NATO commitments. It wasn't the ballroom, drapes, helipad, marble walkway, gold leaf statues or things that keep us up at night. It was trans people possibly playing in opposite sex sports. That my friends is the Republican Party platform in a nutshell. Vote accordingly, your life does depend on it.Laurence Jacks, Estero Place for data centers I have a suggestion for the data centers that all the Democrats are complaining about. First off China is going to pull ahead of us if we don't keep up in the AI race so we need to keep building them as fast as we can. I would like to suggest that we start building the data centers on older military bases around the country. Most have the much-needed space, and they don't need approval from the local government. The only negative aspect to this would be that the local community would not get the additional tax base increase that these data centers provide. Jim McMenamy, Fort Myers Playground diplomacy International relations have come a long way under the present administration. In August, against the backdrop of deteriorating U.S.-Canadian trade negotiations and rising tensions, President Trump directed that Lake Ontario be called "Lake America" in U.S. federal usage. Canadian officials rejected the change. The response from some Canadians was essentially: "Fine. If you're going to play the naming game, we'll play too." At one dinner party, guests proposed retaliatory names for Mar-a-Lago. The winner was "Ped-o-lago." The joke is childish. That's precisely why it works. There is a difference, however, between ordinary people making a joke and a president using the power of government to turn geographic names into instruments of political combat. When diplomacy starts to resemble a playground argument - "You called my lake what? Fine, I'll rename your house!" - perhaps we should ask whether we're watching statecraft or simply name-calling with a bigger microphone. Charles McClinton, Cape Coral MAGA's legacy I assume that since my MAGA friends support and enable President Trump, they are proud that the legacy they leave their children and grandchildren will be forever linked to him. Enabling Trump makes his legacy theirs! And historians will record some of that legacy to be: desecrating the Office of President by using scatological language, displaying crude, boorish behavior, and faking religious sincerity; pathological lying about ending current wars and ensuring peace; starting wars, kidnapping national leaders, killing assumed smugglers; befriending tyrants while insulting and alienating our longtime allies; building self-aggrandizing monuments at taxpayer expense; "honoring" America's 250th anniversary by staging a pugilistic blood bath and sports car race in the nation's capital; pardoning 1,000 insurrectionists who tried to destroy our democracy; running financial scams; etc. Please tell me MAGA friends, are you proud of your legacy? Will your progeny be? Ed OKeefe, Bonita Springs Use the 25th Amendment It's very simple, Trump is destroying this country, and he is being helped by the GOP party and his MAGA supporters. It's time for him and his accomplices to go. What has Trump done for the American people? What are his accomplishments? Nothing positive, but a lot negative. In his brain (which is questionable even if he has a working brain), he has done great things, like rename the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, rename Lake Ontario to Lake America, put his name and likeness on pretty much every building in DC, redid the Reflecting Pool (yeah that worked out), made himself $2 billion off crypto and traded thousands of stocks in the oil industry during the war with Iran making himself and his cronies even wealthier. How have any of these things helped the American people? They have not. What he has not done is work for the country and the American people. Prices across the board are up - food, gas, utilities, everyday items. Inflation is up, interest and mortgage rates are high suppressing the ability for young people to buy a home. He started an unwinnable war with Iran which has depleted our stockpiles of critical weapons. We are short on Patriot missiles and other key weaponry. After claiming he "annihilated" their nuclear capability months ago, he goes into Iran guns blazing. Was that just another Trump lie? His immigration deportations have deported moms, dads, aunts, uncles, spouses of military personnel. He said he was going after criminals and gang members, he has not. More Trump lies? His ICE gang has murdered Americans on American soil. He has alienated all of our allies, most recently one of our largest trading partners and neighbor, Canada. His actions will lead our allies to increase their trade with China and other non-ally countries. The world is laughing at us. His massive tax cuts for the wealthy have increased the deficit to over $40 trillion. Who is going to pay for this? Simple answer is your children and grandchildren, that is if the U.S. doesn't file bankruptcy first. He pardoned the J6 criminals and his crypto bros who had pled guilty to crimes against the U.S. His "genius" Cabinet picks like Hegseth has fired top military personnel leaving the U.S. exposed as Russia and China plan their next move. HHS secretary Kennedy has exposed millions of children to diseases that were pretty much nonexistent by being a vaccine denier. He has torn down the East Wing of the White House for a vanity project that will cost the American taxpayers $1 billion and his Reflecting Pool fiasco has cost Americans taxpayers over $50 million. He has filed an unheard number of lawsuits against his so-called enemies and most of these lawsuits, if not all, have been dismissed. This is another multi-million dollar failure on his part. He is trying to suppress fair elections and claims mail-in voting is fraud, all while he has voted by mail the past three elections. He has covered up and hid from the American public the Epstein files protecting his rich cronies and possibly himself. I could go on and on but if this isn't enough to get you riled up and seek a change, then you don't have a pulse. It's time, we the American people, vote his enablers out of office and make the next move to remove him from office. The 25th Amendment was put into place to protect the country from actions against the country by people like Trump. Let's use it NOW. E.A. Blair, Naples I now understand MAGA Having gotten the United States into military, political, economic or cultural wars with most of the Western world, sometimes all of them at the same time, our MAGA president, to make life better for all Americans, takes out his trusty sharpie and renames Lake Ontario with the name Lake America. He acted similarly with the Gulf of Mexico, and as when he used his sharpie to redirect a hurricane when it did not comply with his earlier statement showing his omniscience. So while under Mr. Trump, America looks and carries on like a backwards moving Tower of Babel country, prices and inflation remain high, farm foreclosures are on the rise, whiplash tariffs are imposed on everybody and for any reason, our military remains in harm's way in his war of choice, and Mr. Trump, well Mr. Trump is busy trading on the stock market, getting richer as he benefits from his own national security and domestic policy decisions. Yet, dependable MAGA rushes to Trumpsplain it all, and continues to enable Mr. Trump in all his craziness. God bless 'em! Never fear, American citizens, the Marines taught me to decipher all of it. The Marines use to say of one of their own, perpetually screwing up, low performing, without a clue Gyrenes, "he may be a dirtball, but, by God, he is our dirtball," that is until even we finally realized the individual was a hopeless case and jettisoned him. There you have it folks! Thomas Minor, Bonita Springs Let's be more like Dolly I've been watching, reading and hearing a lot of information about "the Dolly" and every time my heart seriously flutters. Everything that has been talked about her is truly incredible. She was the most wonderful human being God ever produced. There will never again be anyone like her. Then again every time I am exposed to something regarding "the Donny" something else flutters and it ain't good. Wouldn't be wonderful if we could have political representatives from the top down just like her? Sam McIntire, Estero Names of Great Lakes Does anyone recollect the pneumonic device used for remembering the names of the Great Lakes? It is HOMES: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. If President Trump gets his way and America is substituted for Ontario, the pneumonic device then becomes, SHAME. How fitting. William E. Leggiero, Jr., Naples Like blaming the mirror Trump's obsession with attacking our free press with rants of "Fake News" is similar to a person blaming the mirror for their looks. James Keough, Cape Coral Chris Vignieri for elections office Our Supervisor of Elections needs to possess absolute nonpartisanship, strict security protocols, financial and legal compliance, leadership and transparent communication. Chris Vignieri has those traits and more. He will serve all the voters of our county, not just his cronies, family members and law firm clients. Unlike his opponent, Chris does not have family members on your ballot. And he didn't sponsor a bill to redraw Florida's congressional maps for his own political gain. He will not look out for special interests of a party rather than the true will of the people of our state. As Chief Legal Counsel for the Department of Children and Families, Suncoast Region, Chris has served Southwest Floridians for over a decade in various roles. His management experience includes logistics, compliance timelines, community partnerships and oversight. He monitors adherence to federal, state, and local law. He knows how to conduct audits, update operational security plans and stay current with regulatory changes. And he understands what it takes to run an operation that the public can trust. Chris will implement clear measures to ensure U.S. citizenship and other voter eligibility criteria are confirmed in all elections. A Lee County resident since 2000, he is not bringing an agenda to the Supervisor of Elections office. He is bringing a track record. We deserve an elections office we can trust. There is only one clear choice. Learn more about Chris Vignieri at Chris4SOE.com and cast your vote for him on November 3, 2026. Melinda Isley, Fort Myers Florida in the 1950s My brother and I were reminiscing about our Florida childhood in the 1950s, remembering crossing the Everglades from home in South Miami to Fort Myers where Mom was born and raised. We always set out before dawn, riding along under the dark shadows of the Australian pines, finally reaching 40-mile bend, that first landmark on our journey. I remember looking out across the sawgrass, the flocks of birds, herons, egrets, sometimes even spoonbill. I remember passing through the Big Cyprus, looking for gators as we passed, and on and on. Still half asleep, I'd let my mind wander out toward the horizon, out toward the distant hammocks, imagining a panther or two in the shadows. It was a long, wonderful magical journey in those days. And, finally, after hour and hours, there it was, that bright neon sign with the stooped figure of the tired Indian warrior on horseback as we passed the Trail's End Motel and on through sleepy little Naples village. We still had a ways to go yet, passing through miles of piney woods and palmettos, but we were on the home stretch. Aunt Bert would have breakfast waiting when we arrived. Scrambled eggs, sausage, a platter of crispy bacon, maybe even French toast with butter and cane syrup! We could hardly wait. I haven't been back home since the 70s. Dad had warmed me when I got out of the military that the changes to the Florida I loved as a kid would break my heart and not to return. Still, it's sad to imagine that even the iconic Trail's End Motel's neon sign is no longer there to welcome those who've made the crossing. Michael Weidenbach, Honolulu, HI This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Lee Health insurance decision a blow to seniors | Opinion letters Reporting by Letter writers / Fort Myers News-Press USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect This story was originally published September 6, 2026 at 6:02 AM.