Rep. Ryan should support health-care reform bill

Rep. Ryan should support health-care reform bill

EDITOR:

In the past year, the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative, a coalition of over 60 grass-roots groups, has been knocking on doors, holding meetings in church basements, organizing community meetings and working in multiple ways to revitalize neighborhoods in Youngstown and Warren. Thousands of people have been involved in our work.

Meeting after meeting we hear stories like that of Hatti Wilkins, a 35-year member of the Steelworkers’ union. Hatti, like many in the Valley recently, lost her job and is entering her last month of unemployment. Hattie who has high blood pressure and is required to take daily medications has been paying for COBRA because she has a pre-existing condition and cannot get other coverage.

At a recent rally, Hatti spoke to nearly 500 Ohio residents saying, “I have given the factory the best years of my life, now here I am spending almost half of my unemployment on health-care premiums, watching my life savings dwindle and stressing over what I’m going to do.” Wilkins will likely have to declare bankruptcy because of a broken health care system. We need a public plan option for people like Hatti that guarantees her access to health care.

Health-care premiums are growing four times faster than wages. Half of all personal bankruptcies stem from medical expenses.

Congress cannot let another year go by without passing health-care reform. We now have a very strong proposal in the House that will not impact 99 percent of Americans’ surcharge and will not affect 96 percent of America’s small businesses. Congressman Tim Ryan has been a champion for the Valley. We need Tim Ryan to be a champion in supporting health care reform. He should support this bill.

KIRK NODEN and Pastor MICHAEL HARRISON

Youngstown

X Noden is executive director of MVOC; Harrison is the board chair.

Health care isn’t free, and the system isn’t broken

EDITOR:

So Barack Obama wants to fix our broken health care system. Sounds good, but what’s there to fix. It has the best doctors, nurses, equipment, medicines and hospitals. By law, everyone has access to it. As far as the cost goes, if they are up because the number of procedures is up, isn’t that a good thing? More people are being treated and cured. Yet, the cost per procedure is down. In-hospital stays are shorter, medicines are cheaper, and insurance companies have created low cost networks. What’s the problem? It certainly isn’t cost, coverage or effectiveness.

The problem is simple: compassion and freedom. In essence, America’s health-care system is a product of its environment — a free and compassionate society. To fix it, government must reduce the compassion and curtail our freedom.

Contrary to what you may believe, health care is not free. The patient, the doctor or a compassionate third party must pay for it. The very fact that Americans believe health care is a right speaks well of those compassionate people whose charity has enabled that fantasy. That is the upside of compassion — everyone gets care. Its downside is the cost of giving that care.

Freedom is about choices. As Americans, we can choose to prepare for the future (buy insurance or save) or deny the future (buy the latest ipod or automobile instead). For those who can’t afford the choice, we have shown compassion. But what do we owe those who simply refuse to prepare? Should the 85 percent who made the right choice lose their freedom to choose because 15 percent made a bad choice? Why should the 85 percent be forced to accept less than they have earned?

So how do you fix a system broken by freedom and compassion? For Obama and his Democrat flunkies, the answer is simple: Take away the freedom with one-size fits all, and replace the compassion with political patronage. While your grandmother is sent home to die, politicians and their financiers will get the best of everything. Anyone protesting will be branded as “the rich,” greedy, evil, racist or counter-revolutionary. Watch it all unfold. You’ll be amazed how fast your freedoms will disappear, and compassion will be redefined in political terms.

THOMAS MASKELL

Poland

Vindicator ignores sacrifices public employees have made

EDITOR:

Throughout the recent months, The Vindicator regularly has bashed public employees, alleging that their benefits are excessive and demanding that they make sacrifices. This anti-public campaign is based on misinformation and ultimately is harmful to this Valley and its residents.

The Vindicator ignores sacrifices public employees have made. At the Mahoning County Child Support Enforcement Agency, for example, front-line employees months ago accepted an unpaid day every pay period (a 10 percent reduction in pay) to save their co-workers from layoffs. Their immediate supervisors, also unionized, did suffer several layoffs. (By contrast, management employees at this agency and most higher levels of county government have faced neither pay cuts nor layoffs — so much for shared sacrifice.) Unionized maintenance employees at the courthouse and clerk of courts employees also have accepted the unpaid day every pay period. Employees have been laid off at the Youngstown school board, the county recorder’s office, Boardman Township, and from cities throughout the region. These cuts come even though the Bush economy meltdown greatly has increased the demand for the services these employees provide.

The Vindicator also forgets that public employees are taxpayers too, as well as customers of businesses in this Valley. Those who have lost 10 percent of their pay have less to spend at private-sector businesses. Those who have lost their jobs have nothing to spend. A situation which undermines the economy of this whole region.

Finally, public employee benefits are not excessive. Every American deserves benefits like health care, sick leave to care for oneself and one’s family, and a decent pension upon retirement. The crime is not that public employees have these basic benefits, but rather that so many private sector employers refuse to provide (or have eliminated) them. By encouraging employers to race to the bottom by cutting benefits, The Vindicator helps impoverish all residents of this Valley.

JOHN J. FILAK

Youngstown

X The writer is regional director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Ohio Council 8.

When do prices come down?

EDITOR:

When fuel, especially diesel, was sky high, the public was told grocery prices were increased due to higher fuel cost of truckers. I see diesel fuel has lowered, but I see no reduction in grocery prices. On the contrary, except for weekly specials, there are still increases in groceries.

In conjunction with that, workers in every walk of life are being asked to take pay cuts, lose benefits, freeze wages, etc. Meanwhile, they’re trying to cope with higher prices for commodities, especially groceries. Something is very wrong with this picture when paychecks are slipping backward, but prices for necessities are on fast-forward.

Who will straighten out this inequality? Is there someone or any organization whose job it is to monitor outrageous grocery pricing?

GEORGIE ARKWRIGHT

Youngstown