Let's overhaul our awful health insurance system

Regarding the April 26 Midweek Perspectives piece "Health Insurance for All -- Yes, We Can": Many of us American citizens, our families and friends are being deeply harmed by our fractured, dysfunctional health-care system.

If we have insurance at all (more than 46 million of us have none), we often have to fight our insurance company when it has decided not to pay for care we need and should have access to.

I am appalled by how many people suffer catastrophic illnesses such as cancer, heart disease or strokes and then must endure the added burden of literally fighting for their lives with a profit-oriented "health" insurance company.

We Pennsylvanians have available to us right now the ability to change this awful system. We have in our Legislature Senate Bill 1085, a sweeping single-payer plan unique among those of the many states that have begun to work toward providing health care for their citizens. SB 1085 will cut away the wasteful, bloated bureaucracy of what we have now and replace it with a rational nonprofit system.

This plan, unlike that of other states, will also provide a mechanism to fix the malpractice insurance mess, which hurts both doctors and patients.

All of us should get familiar with that term "single-payer" health care. It is not as complicated as it sounds -- and if we decide we want it, the days of having to beg insurance companies to keep us alive will be over.

VIRGINIA C. ESKRIDGE
Shadyside

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Decades wasted

Department of Energy representatives have recently suggested that various escalations of gasoline prices during the Bush administration are the result of policies enacted by the Clinton administration. The more likely cause for price increases is increasing global demand for an increasingly scarce commodity supplied primarily by unstable or unfriendly countries ("Gas Price Q&A," April 26).

The likelihood that a barrel of oil will be markedly cheaper a decade hence is near zero. Calls for probes of windfall profits or reduction of PennDOT gas taxes ("Lawmaker: Suspend 31-Cent Gas Tax," April 27) are flat-out political pandering. These proposals are not solutions.

A solution was actually put in place more than 20 years ago. At that time, the DOE was created, $20 billion was allocated toward synthetic fuel development and oil import quotas as well as windfall profit taxes were put in place. These measures would have progressively, albeit painfully, decreased our dependence on foreign oil. This plan was pragmatic, well-considered and forward looking.

President Carter frankly described his energy policy as "the greatest challenge our country will face during our lifetimes. The energy crisis has not yet overwhelmed us, but it will if we do not act quickly." (TV address, April 18, 1977). He called this effort "the moral equivalent of war."

Unfortunately, President Reagan lacked President Carter's prophetic vision and dismantled the programs, thereby eventually transforming the moral equivalent of war into actual war under a subsequent Republican administration.

MICHAEL SOSO
Wilkinsburg

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Tell us why

I am writing in follow-up to the April 26 article dealing with Duquesne University Law School's denial of tenure to Assistant Professor John Rago ("Duquesne Law Professor Denied Tenure").

As the parent of a son who graduated from that law school with the strong support and encouragement of then Associate Dean Rago, I am deeply disturbed. Instead of citing "employee confidentiality," the university president owes it to all of us to explain his action.

I smell a rat. Is the university president bowing to pressures from some member of the board of trustees who doesn't approve of some of the progressive actions of Professor Rago? If that is the case, this tenure denial will have a chilling effect on other professors.

Universities are supposed to be havens of academic freedom of thought. The moral integrity of Duquesne University and President Charles Dougherty rides on how it responds to this apparent breach of faith in that doctrine.

WARREN I. CIKINS
Alexandria, Va.

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A political move?

This is in reference to John Rago, the Duquesne University law professor denied tenure by Duquesne's President Charles Dougherty -- albeit with a recommendation for tenure from "a panel of law school faculty and the school's dean, Donald Guter" ("Duquesne Law Professor Denied Tenure," April 26).

As we Pittsburghers have seen recently, our due-process system is flawed in Allegheny County. DNA tests have revealed that two different men were wrongfully convicted. Wow.

According to the above-mentioned article, John Rago has been extremely active in the push for a state commission to investigate such wrongful convictions. Kudos to Professor Rago.

And so the big question to President Dougherty is whether his decision has been politically motivated. Yes, something seems wrong here, very wrong. And, no, I do not know Professor Rago personally.

SHARON FRONCEK CIOCCA
Marshall

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Under attack

We are all familiar with sayings such as "crossing the line drawn in the sand" and "the straw that broke the camel's back." They mean that things have gone too far.

Well, that is how I feel about the recently introduced Spanish language version of our national anthem ("Spanish Version of National Anthem Draws Heavy Flak," April 28). That along with the illegal immigrants' protest demonstrations have gone too far.

Let's wake up and understand that we are being invaded by people from a foreign land. Let's quit feeling that we are the guilty ones. These people, and I hate to use that term, are violating our laws.

The overwhelming majority of Americans say the first step to solving this issue is to secure the border. So, while we are arguing about the other details, let us turn over the management of our borders, at least the one with Mexico, to our military. Let's treat the violation of our southern border as an "attack" on our country and deal with it as such.

JIM WELCH
Upper St. Clair

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Issues being ignored

With all the publicity about people trying to come into our country illegally, a few things need to be made known. First and utmost, the people trying to enter our country illegally are not to be blamed. Second, the blame is on the governments of the nations they are fleeing. Third, we have forgotten that all but Native Americans are here illegally.

I worked in Mexico for seven years, learning the language, customs, culture and plight. I came to respect the people and learned to understand them and their way of life.

A few of their problems are: corrupt officials at all levels of government, one wage earner supporting the family and close relatives, living conditions that are worse than those of slaves before our Civil War and a free education system that stops at the sixth grade.

Why do these situations happen? It is because of the Mexican government and the system supporting it. Through the years many news headlines have told us of the corruption that exists, and little has been done to correct it. Little wonder the people are trying to leave. This situation may sound familiar -- it has a lot to do with this country's past.

Don't blame the people trying to get into this country; blame it on the politicians who refuse to address the issues that cause it.

RONALD SMITH
Brighton Heights

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Get involved in stopping violence before it affects your loved ones

This letter is in response to Debbie Haley's April 28 letter ("We Must Use These God-Given Tools to Stop Violence and Love One Another," April 28)

I was born and raised in the Pittsburgh area and left to pursue a career in Tucson, Ariz. I'm a law enforcement sergeant here and have been for the past 26 years.

I so sympathize with Ms. Haley and her portrayal of Homewood in 2006. It is truly tragic that we as a society have lost our sense of self and community. What happened to love thy neighbor as thyself?

What is occurring in Homewood may occur in any neighborhood, nationwide. None of us are immune from the violence that is so pervasive in our society. Wake up, people, and get involved, for the next time, the victim might be a member of your family.

CHRIS SCHOLL
Tucson, Ariz.

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