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PrintLet's see a system of patients before profits
Insurance companies are offering to "contribute" by cutting the speed at which their premiums rise. The premiums will still rise, of course.
How is this supposed to help the frighteningly large percentage of Americans who currently want health care for themselves and their families, but can't afford it? Yet the companies offering this "fix" have a dedicated seat at the table and a voice in crafting our new health-care plan. Their kind offer to loosen the thumbscrews slightly on those who still have health insurance makes the front page of the newspaper ("Health-Care Cost Controls Pledged," May 11).
The same companies offer to cut costs by trimming less-essential services and making fewer employees do more with less pay. Funny, I don't feel that I'm suffering from an excess of medical service or insurance company service, nor do I get the feeling that their basic employees are either overpaid or underworked.
The only plan not on the table is the one that cuts truly unnecessary costs. I mean the profit that insurance companies pay to their executives, to their bloated corporate boards and to their stockholders. Yes, I am a stockholder. But I'm a human being first.
What would you say to a plan where the premiums that are collected all go back to heal us when we get hurt or sick? People are hung up on calling that sort of plan "single-payer." What we should actually call it is the "getting back all you paid for" plan. It's the only plan that does not teleport a chunk of your money directly into someone else's pocket.
JOY SABL
Point Breeze
Recipe for rationing
The May 13 article "Senators Taking Pulse on Health Benefit Tax" reports "Mr. Obama sees a world in which doctors ... compete." This is fantasy. It assumes doctors need more patients and will compete to get them. But doctors already have heavy patient workloads; they're not competing for more.
Instead, America has a shortage. The countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have an average of three physicians per 1,000 people; in the United States, it's 2.4. Allowing for doctors without patients (administrators, etc.), we have 600,000 practicing physicians. And we have 300 million Americans demanding their time.
Currently, we largely ration health care by price. Some rationing happens through inconvenience. Other societies ration politically -- care for those the rulers favor.
To relieve rationing, increase supply and reduce demand: e.g., rationing by price draws many foreign doctors to practice here. It shifts some demand to physicians' assistants. And it discourages taking minor problems to the doctor.
But most proposed "reforms" will diminish supply: e.g., capping government payments; compensating only government-approved "best" practices; demanding that doctors see X patients per week. Already, some foreign doctors are deciding they're better off staying home.
Meanwhile, government insurance increases demand -- while supply shrinks.
Massachusetts' Romney Care reports people uncared for because doctors won't take new patients. Imagine the waits once we dump 47 million more people into doctors' offices!
Current "reform" proposals are likely to increase demand for health care while reducing supply. That makes rationing worse. Expect longer waits, shaved quality and higher costs.
Democrats should look to Gov. Ed Rendell's 2007 Prescription for Pennsylvania for some better ideas.
FRED ANDERSON
Ross
They reject peace
I was so happy to see the letter from Ed Joscak ("Consider This Evidence: We Have Not Been Attacked," May 11), which made sense. It is true that we haven't been attacked again. You can call our enemies whatever you want to call them, but they want to kill us.
I think when they are offered the olive branch, they won't accept it and, in fact, probably will kill the dove!
NANCY LORENZ
Coraopolis
Honesty about self
President Barack Obama differs with the "don't ask, don't tell" homosexual policy of earlier presidencies. He seeks to remove homosexuality as a forbidden species and to respect and pay tribute to gays and lesbians who wish to serve in the nation's armed forces without denying or concealing their same-sex preference.
He proposes a "live-and-let-live" inclination toward homosexuality, accepting gays and lesbians as first-class citizens entitled to lead their private lives in ways that suit their beliefs and needs. The president is right to remove the stigma of homosexuality from gays and lesbians who, patriotically and courageously, don a military uniform on behalf of us all.
What is fundamentally important is the deep and enduring feeling that one person has for another: love, care and assisting another person to live a healthy, happy and full life, be that life as a heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or transsexual.
Emulating the famous declaration by Henry David Thoreau, one should march to the beat of one's own drummer, not to a majoritarian tempo. What matters is not the gender of the individual to whom one is attracted, but rather the welfare and happiness of that individual, whether that person is or is not of one's own gender. What should matter is the devotion and solicitude that one bestows upon another human being.
Hence, instead of subscribing to "don't ask, don't tell" one should subscribe to "ask and tell." Honesty, openness and pride in one's self, lifestyle and values are as American as apple pie, as patriotic as July Fourth fireworks and palpably resonant with the Bill of Rights of our Constitution.
ROBERT PERLOFF
Shadyside
Transit disconnect
Regarding "Port Authority Gets Zero in New Round of Stimulus Funds" (May 9): Hooray! Funding the North Shore Connector subway extension or any other Port Authority project beyond maintenance and repairs is insane and downright criminal. The authority can't even efficiently run the system it already has without robbing the public by any one of a number of methods, whether it be fare increases, service cuts, existing taxes or new taxes.
Predictably, as was reported in January, the project is running over budget, to the tune of $117.8 million.
I know that my elation will be short-lived, for the funds to continue constructing the connector will surely be found eventually. After all, it would be downright sinful to leave such a wonderful project unfunded and unfinished after it's already wasted millions of dollars. I wonder if the authority is still making those payments to the former executives who wrecked it?
GARY DENESE
Oakland
Fairer taxation
As long as property taxes are based upon a subjective value of property, there will be a never-ending line of appeals tying up valuable time and taxpayer money.
I propose that property tax be based upon the amount of property owned, square-footage of home plus square footage of land, rather than an appraised value.
Provisions could be made for variation in geography or land use or adjusted for areas of affluence or blight, but all provisions need to be clearly defined and equitably administered to achieve an objective and fair outcome.
MARY LYNN SALVUCCI
O'Hara
Ryan Maseth's family is saving lives by forcing corrective action
Allowing William C. Bodie, interim president of the government and infrastructure business unit at KBR Inc., space on your op-ed page to deny any responsibility for the electrocution death of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth is a cause of concern to me ("KBR Is Not to Blame," April 17). As the mother of an Army Special Forces soldier who served three deployments in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, it is almost beyond my comprehension to understand the pain and anguish of Ryan's mother, Cheryl Harris.
During those periods when my son was in action, I lived with the fear of that dreaded knock on the door from those who would come to tell of my son's death. Thankfully for us that day never came. But that knock came for Ms. Harris. I imagine that she may have been as prepared as one can be to hear of her son's death from enemy action, but never from the neglect and ineptitude of Defense Department contractors.
Recently a U.S. District Court judge ruled against a KBR motion to dismiss a wrongful death action filed by the parents of Staff Sgt. Maseth. It seems to me that the Bodie op-ed piece in the Post-Gazette is part of KBR's public relations plan to counteract the court ruling and shift the blame to foreigners.
No doubt, KBR employees have provided essential services for our fighting men and women. However, the executives of KBR made millions of dollars from the taxpayers with little personal risk. So why not own up to their responsibility and help the family of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth to get on with their lives? I greatly admire Cheryl Harris for her persistence and toughness. May God bless her and keep her strong. Her actions have caused our military and lawmakers to pay attention to this issue and have forced them to take action, undoubtedly saving more mothers and fathers from the agony of the loss of a child.
VIRGINIA MOORE
Grove City
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We welcome your letters. Please include your name, address and phone number, and send to Letters to the Editor, 34 Blvd. of the Allies, Pittsburgh 15222. E-mail letters to letters@post-gazette.com or fax to 412-263-2014. Letters should be 250 words or less, original and exclusive to the Post-Gazette. All letters are subject to editing for length, clarity and accuracy and will be verified before being published.
Correction/Clarification: (Published May 19, 2009) A letter in this group of letters to the editor as originally published May 18, 2009 about the electrocution death of Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth gave an incorrect title for William C. Bodie, interim president of the government and infrastructure business unit at KBR Inc.
