Post office provides view of how government-run health care would work

Post office provides view of how government-run health care would work

EDITOR:

If it’s true that all politics is local, then the picketing to prevent the closure of two East Side post offices can provide a “teachable moment” of government in action. President Obama himself has likened his health care plan to the post office, so let us explore the similarities.

The proposed post office closure is analogous to how rationing would work under government run health care. (As someone who’s spent 30 years taking care of cancer patients, and who now serves as a consultant to Blue Cross of California, I know about these things from both sides of the issue.) No one would explicitly say that you can’t have the CT scan, MRI, specialty care, etc. that you need. These services simply would not be available because some anonymous distant bureaucrat decided they were too expensive to maintain. No one would explicitly say you cannot buy private health insurance. But it would have been driven from the marketplace by government regulations.

Congressman Tim Ryan and other proponents of this plan would have us believe that the government can provide free or low cost health care to 30 million more people, provide low cost insurance to those who are already sick, diminish delays, maintain quality and innovation, keep down overall costs, maintain Medicare Advantage benefits even as its budget is slashed — all this without implicit rationing of care, higher taxes, or dramatically increased national debt. This is the same government which has a legal monopoly on the delivery of first class mail, but whose post office manages to lose billions of dollars a year. No wonder public confidence in Congress is at an all-time low.

Mr. Ryan should stop spitting in our faces and telling us it’s raining.

ERIC CHEVLEN, M.D.

Liberty

Don’t believe all the critics

EDITOR:

John Boehner, the Republican leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, has claimed that reform would lead to government takeover of health care, cuts in medicare benefits and federal funding of abortion.

All of these have been debunked by non-partisan fact checks and refuted by organizations such as Catholics United, an organization that opposes abortion and has declared these claims misleading.

The president’s plan will bring stability and security to those with insurance, affordable coverage to those who do not have it, and lower the cost of care.

FRED J. CAPOGRECO

Youngstown

Primary need: more doctors

EDITOR:

The Vindicator on September 14, 2009, published a short article Sept. 14, “More primary docs are a must.” There is currently a marked shortage of primary care physicians in the United States. The extension of health care to the 45-50 million that are currently uninsured will add significantly to this problem. We will need about an additional 40,000 such physicians.

At this time only about 5 percent of medical school graduates elect to enter primary care practices. The average student graduates with a debt of $150,000 to $200,000. As a result, regardless of the student’s actual preference or inclination, he or she will often choose a specialty of the student’s actual preference or inclination, he or she will often choose a specialty that promises high financial remuneration. Primary care is not such a specialty.

May I suggest that we consider a system similar to that in most European countries. Let us give significant federal financial support (not a loan) to medical students and require, in return, a period of National Health Service in the primary care specialties. Such a program could be presented on an optional and voluntary basis. It could help solve both the student indebtedness and the physician shortage problems.

KURT J. WEGNER, M.D.

Youngstown

Pishkur chose the hard route

EDITOR:

This letter is written in response to the forced resignation of Walter “Buzz” Pishkur as Forum Health’s Chief Executive Officer. Far too often elected officials, as well as executives, place their own personal interests above the interests of those they serve. It is refreshing to know Buzz is not such an individual. Those of us who know Buzz, worked for or with him, realize he has always placed the interests of his employees and those he serves far above his personal interests. We believe this was witnessed during his tenure as CEO of Forum Health.

When Buzz accepted the position of CEO, he fully realized he had an almost insurmountable task of making North Side Hospital an economically viable institution. He had a choice — take the easy route and close the hospital, or roll up his sleeves, work several extra hours a day, seven days a week, in an attempt to preserve 1,400 jobs, $1.5 million in taxes for the city of Youngstown, as well as preserving a valuable health resource for the community. For Buzz, the choice was obvious. The best interests of the community came above his own personal interests, even if it cost him his position with Forum Health. How many other individuals would have made such a choice?

Buzz may have lost his position as CEO, but he gained the respect of the entire community.

AL and MARCIA SAULINE

Hubbard

Nohing will change if voters keep passing school levies

EDITOR:

Is it possible I don’t live on the same planet as the Liberty School Board? On the planet I live on, the Vindicator and other area newspapers, radio and TV stations have for the past few years reported many plant closings and layoffs. Many of these workers not only lost their jobs, but hospitalization and pensions as well. I received an e-mail the other day from AARP stating 14,000 people a day are losing their hospitalization. We can only guess how many of these may be our friends and neighbors living in Trumbull County and especially in Liberty Township. Has the school board taken the time to see just how many homes have been foreclosed on in our township?

I am positive there will be students that graduated from Liberty High School this year, some with high honors, who will be unable to attend college this year due to lack of financial help from their parents. The job market has collapsed, making it impossible for our children or even their parents to find any kind of decent work that pays well with hospitalization.

When you go to the polls think of your family, neighbors and friends who may have lost their home, hospitalization and pension and may even be wondering where their next meal may come from. Please vote no on the Liberty school levy.

This school board lost the May election by more than 2000 votes. The only way to get their attention now is to defeat the tax issue once again, hopefully, by a bigger margin.

Changes have to be made on how we govern our schools from the federal, state and local levels. There are ways this can happen, but it won’t come about as long as we pass levies. As voters we must force the issues now.

EDWARD J. TOCK

Liberty Township

Blame Democrats for NAFTA

EDITOR:

Let me remind David Betras, the Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman, that former Republican congressman John Kasich did not sign NAFTA and GATT into law. It was Bill Clinton, who at the time of the NAFTA signing had Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate.

Also, if the Democrats are so opposed to “free trade” then why, in over eight months, haven‘t they offered a bill to restrict or end these trade policies? The president is a Democrat and they have large majorities in both the House and Senate. They could write, sponsor, and pass a bill with no real opposition if Democrats are truly against these trade agreements.

GARY DAVID

Boardman