Healthcare hits a hot button

Re

When the scholastic needs of our children are being met, our roads are in good repair, gang violence is an afterthought, healthcare is affordable for all legal Californians and the state has balanced its budget, then, and only then, should we consider providing dialysis, transplants and other such costly medical services to illegal aliens.

The Times states that the number of California’s illegal dialysis patients “is not large” and then follows with the eye-opening, one-year cost to taxpayers of $51 million. That makes me gasp at what the total expense of all services provided to illegals must be.

By the way, I read the Letters section of The Times every day and have yet to see an expression of gratitude from an illegal alien for California’s largesse. I guess entitlement knows no borders.

Glenn L. Toth

Playa del Rey

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Last week, I attended a fundraiser for a 7-year-old boy who is battling a malignant brain tumor. The local Big Bear people, the majority of whom are of the mid- to lower-income level, turned out en masse to help the family deal with the overwhelming costs of his treatment. I could not help but think of this as I read the article about the illegal immigrant who has received a kidney transplant and more than $500,000 in dialysis and “has never seen a bill.” Am I the only one who thinks there is something terribly wrong in this story?

James R. Hale

Big Bear Lake