Re: Best Care Plan Based on Evidence, Not Emotion, Oct. 3 The News.

As I read this letter to the editor, I could almost feel the sincerity spreading from the pages onto my fingers and table top. Dr. Marcaccio is definitely a man passionate about his work and community.

But I think he, and his compatriots, may be missing the most basic point of the protests over the HHS decisions. People are not always interested in receiving care from "expert teams;" they are more concerned about not receiving any care at all. A decision to remove the local emergency room from access, coupled with an acute and growing shortage of family physicians, is creating panic in the minds of many residents.

This, along with the almost dictatorial decree from HHS about its decision, is the main source of anger. Surely a massively consequential decision such as this deserves more community input and thought about the ramifications to the residents. It seems more and more that we taxpayers are told "pay up and shut up; we are the experts and we know what's good for you."

I am, of course, simplifying Dr. Marcaccio's letter but that is the inescapable message being delivered. The same attitude pervades the school board and their decision to hold closed door auctions of "their" property. Why should decisions like this interest the rate-paying public? I think we have been too passive for far too long. We need to ensure that decisions like these are always made only after the input and consideration of the effects on the people who ultimately pay the bill...us!

If this is truly a democracy then it is our duty to let our feelings be known to the people we elect and support with our taxes. The people who are supposed to be answerable to us.

Walter Matesa

Dundas