By Tom Dean
A reaction to Actions speak Louder from The Valley Reporter, December, 19, 2024
Dr. Steve Zonies appears to be a frustrated man, a frustration that may cloud his judgment. When an opinion piece includes thugs, parasites, freebies it’s a signal that one should read the rendered opinions with care, even skepticism.
Dr. Zonies describes the problems facing The Valley including the loss of our pharmacy and the limits placed on Valley Dental Associates. Never addressing the reason for the high cost of health care in the first instance, he manages to link these losses to the funding of our education system.
To begin, “the thugs in Montpelier,” folks that we citizens elected, are as troubled by the precipitous rise in property taxes as are their constituents. Here, Dr. Zonies suggests that our taxes should provide the public services “for-all-of-the-people-all-of-the-time,” paid of course, through taxation. Health care as a public service? I agree. Unfortunately, health care for all is a policy that citizens have rejected and we are left with private health care insurance, each of us left on our own. In his quest for an explanation, Dr. Zonies cannot help but pull out that old chestnut: the divide between private business and public service: (“If you or I ran our business the way…”) These are two different realms of our life in a mixed economy and both are required. One may provide dynamism, the other, the public good. Both have given us examples of waste and mismanagement. (Do we need to recall that it was taxpayers who bailed out the private banking industry a few years back?)
For Dr. Zonies, taxes are viewed as “a mugging” rather than “the price you pay for a civilized society” (O. W. Holmes). Unlike those “parasites” in the education system who gain health care with “a free ride at our expense,” Dr. Zonies can afford being mugged and paying for his own health care. Others, without a comfortable income, cannot afford health care insurance and are left to do without or gain it through their employers. In other cases, public servants such as soldiers, sailors, air traffic controllers, those who maintain our roads and teachers are provided health care insurance as part of their total compensation.
On a final note, and in the spirit of full disclosure, I am one of those members of the education system, now retired. I am one of those “parasites” who received the “freebies” that were part of my compensation. I never took my salary or my benefits for granted and always appreciated the support I received from the citizens of our district. I wish all citizens had access to the insurance that I am fortunate to have; it allows me to have annual check-ups and dental work at Valley Dental Associates contributing to the well-being of Dr. Zonies’ successors.
Dean lives in Waitsfield.
