Readers sound off on affordable hospitals, Christian Zionists and Biden’s campaign strategy

Hospital upgrades should improve care for all

Manhattan: Elected officials from across Manhattan celebrated the state Health Department’s rejection of the plan to close Mount Sinai Beth Israel medical center as yet another example of a large health care company failing to address the severe shortage of hospital beds and quality medical care in underserved communities across the city.

As part of the Upper East Side community, I have protested Northwell’s plan for the massive expansion of Lenox Hill Hospital. That expansion and the closure of Beth Israel and other borough hospitals are part of the same problem: The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Hospitals like Beth Israel do not have the revenue to survive when they are serving largely Medicare, Medicaid, and uninsured patients. Meanwhile, Northwell wants to transform Lenox Hill into single-occupancy suites, which would draw any remaining privately insured patients from other underserved areas.

In the case of Beth Israel, we can’t expect Mount Sinai to lose huge sums on the hospital, but that’s why New York’s private health care networks should work with the state Health Department to build hospitals with all communities in mind, not just the richest. These large health care systems, which are supposed to be non-profit, frequently are corporate-minded, not civic-minded.

Northwell’s efforts on the Upper East Side are the next front in the fight against the private health care networks creating a two-tiered health care system in this city. It is time to put an end to Northwell’s current plans for Lenox Hill Hospital and tell them to come back with a plan that makes sense for our community and the rest of the city. Ann Goodbody, member, Committee to Protect Our Lenox Hill Neighborhood

Rules of war

Manhattan: Since Israel makes no distinction between Palestinian belligerents and non-combatants, Gazan civilians should consider surrendering and becoming POWs so that Israel would have to care for them. Michele P. Brown

Blood money

Whitestone: Bernie Sanders is right. Why did President Biden approve $10 billion to Israel when Bibi Netanyahu is refusing to do anything to end the war against the Palestinian people (70% of the 33,000 killed by Israeli arms are women and children)? Sanders said we should not give $1 to Israel until the war against the Palestinian people is stopped by Netanyahu. Israel has become a pariah around the world thanks to Netanyahu and his extreme right-wing supporters. Dorothy Lyons

Christian Zionism

Woods Cross, Utah: In case you didn’t hear, Jon Stewart melted down on “The Daily Show,” saying he’s had it with Biden’s war hypocrisy. However, Stewart didn’t drill down far enough to get to the religious roots of America’s softness on Israel in Gaza versus its toughness on Russia in Ukraine. For Biden, Israel’s decimation of Palestinians in Gaza is a twofer. It gives him great satisfaction for Christian America to support Jewish Israel. After all, the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and New Testament are joined at the hip. It gives Biden equally great satisfaction to show indifference toward the tens of thousands of Muslim civilians killed in Gaza because hardly anybody reads the Quran and votes in America. Biden’s satisfaction doesn’t even begin to diminish, nor does that of any of his many pro-Israel-war pals in Congress, until his warbucks-for-Israel program starts affecting everybody’s re-election chances with Christian voters. Kimball Shinkoskey

Helpful hint

La Jolla, Calif.: To Voicer Chuck Shannon and those who have complained about getting Metro Final on the app: If you go to the Daily News website and click on the e-edition just under the date, you get Sports Final! Jeff Prescott

An end without agony

Staten Island: Re “Physician assisted suicide is not a good answer” (op-ed, April 7): It’s fine that Cardinal Timothy Dolan opposes medical aid in dying, but that view doesn’t represent all or even most of the Catholic Church parishioners, including me. This option is overwhelmingly supported by most New Yorkers, from all different faiths. Before 9/11, paramedic and hospice volunteer Jay Kallio died in agony from stage 4 cancer. He said in a video: “It feels like getting stabbed with a knife and the knife is twisting… Imagine having to go through that for weeks or months until you died.” Before Ayla Eilert died in agony from metastatic tongue cancer, her parents said she pleaded: “Please help me die.” In contrast, Nancy Murphy’s sister, Joan Kline, utilized Vermont’s medical-aid-in-dying law to die peacefully from ovarian cancer. “That loving, beautiful, peaceful, and chosen transition allowed us to bond with Joan and she with us in a way that is beyond description,” said Nancy. That’s why I proudly co-sponsor this compassionate legislation. state Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton

The extra mile

Armonk, N.Y.: Fred Ortiz has been delivering our Daily News here for 18 years. When he realized that I had become somewhat compromised in my ability to walk, he began to drive up our 230-foot-long driveway to drop the paper in front of the garage, thereby sparing me that chore every day. So, thanks, Fred, and especially so when it is raining or snowing. I very much appreciate the extra care you provide to us. Gary Miller

Immortalized event

Saugerties, N.Y.: Following up on my brother Voicer Mike Dooley’s letter concerning an eclipse we saw at UMass-Amherst, the eclipse occurred on July 10, 1972, and is actually referenced in Carly Simon’s song “You’re So Vain”: “Flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun.” It’s my understanding that this is the only song with lyrics that reference a total eclipse of the sun. Fifty-plus years and the day is still fresh in our minds! Rich Dooley

DA dereliction

San Luis Obispo, Calif: Someone needs to tell Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg he’s off the rails and out of control before he ruins other people’s lives because he’s a racist punk. Kevin Moriarty

Inflated inflation

Jacksonville, Fla.: To Voicer Frank Burnett, who claims he now pays $15 for a burger, “and the dollar store became the $1.50 store”: Where do you order your burgers, in the Mar-a-Lago steakhouse? And to enlighten you further, I don’t know about the dollar store in your neighborhood, but all other dollar stores have increased their items to $1.25, not $1.50! And no, it wouldn’t be great to go back to 2016, when a minority of Americans elected our first criminal president! Carl J.C. Hafner

Self-proclaimed martyr

Brooklyn: It is fitting that Donald Trump is comparing himself to Nelson Mandela. Both were imprisoned for long periods of time for political reasons. They were separated from their families. There were worldwide protests to try to get them released. Of course, it goes without saying that Trump, like Mandela, would never call for violence. He always advocates love between all men. Alan Podhaizer

Judicial threat

Jamaica Hills: Just imagine the damage tRump and his stacked Supreme Court can do if he is reelected! Another reason to get out the vote — and vote for anyone who isn’t tRump! Robert Gibbs

Historical analysis

Manhattan: Comparisons between Biden and Lyndon Johnson predict that Biden, too, will lose due to foreign wars and domestic racial/economic politics, regardless of substantive policy accomplishments, such as the Great Society and the Inflation Reduction Act. But Harry Truman’s upset 1948 victory against New York’s Tom Dewey is instructive. Handling immigration today, like civil rights in 1948, requires delicate balancing. Similar to Truman, who faced left-wing candidates and an increasingly adversarial Congress, and integrated the army and offered a “Fair Deal,” Biden is increasingly progressive on protecting women’s reproductive rights, climate activism, infrastructure and student debt. Unlike Dewey, Trump has a solid populist base but few moderate and independent supporters, especially given his multiple criminal problems. Biden is following Truman’s whistle-stop campaign strategy to vigorously advance an inclusive agenda. Like Truman, Biden must continue highlighting his administration’s deft handling of internal challenges, and addressing complicated crises in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Itai N. Sneh