TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE

Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife. Proverbs 17:1

No pain relief, no gain for anyone

The insurance companies have won again (”Blue Cross to stop covering oxycontin”, Sept. 6). Now, in a battle between pain and insurance, the big foot of insurance stomps the average American in pain into the ground. Why am I not surprised? Oxycontin and, I’m sure, other equally effective pain relievers, will be added to the “Do Not Cover” list. Will that lower the cost of medical insurance? I think not.

And, the difference in 100 mme’s of pain relief dosage and 500 mme’s of pain relief dosage is ‘not noticeable’? What, exactly, is the milligram measurement of an ‘mme’ (morphine milligram equivalency)? Sounds like politico-speak to me. Try talking morphine milligram equivalency to a person with an infected wisdom tooth, with a shattered ankle, an infected miscarriage, after brain surgery for a golf-ball sized tumor. Believe me, the difference between 100 mme’s and 500

LETTERS

Email letters to letters@commercial appeal.com; mail Letters to the Editor, The Commercial Appeal, 495 Union, Memphis, TN 38103; or click on the “Submit Letter” link on the Opinion page atcommercialappeal.com. mme’s would be the difference between bearable and agony.

The standard of living in our wonderful country is getting measurably lower. The very life expectancy is getting lower. You would think, with all the cost conscious meddling of the insurance companies, that we would at least be able to be more comfortable as we die younger.

Doris A. Rudy, Bartlett

Socialism won’t help poor

To care for poor people is best done through capitalism, not socialism; just take a look at Venezuela, Cuba and other places around the world where socialism is practiced.

Paul Westphal, Cordova