Jeff Jared wrote a thoughtful and accurate presentation of side-impacts from the proposed Obama healthcare plan in your recent edition.

Many, many of us in the Kirkland neighborhood share these same issues and concerns, and therefore we are strongly, if not adamantly, opposed to the Obama plan. Additionally, it is hard to comprehend that the government wishes to drive out of business privately-run enterprises and to instead replace them with a state monopoly. Since when does a monopoly benefit the consumer, especially a state-run one? Further, I am significantly concerned at the loss of healthcare privacy and confidentiality under a single payor or state plan in which my healthcare records (and healthcare decisions) are managed, stored, and decided by a government bureaucracy.

Jeff Cysewski, Kirkland