Keep government and insurance companies out of my room

Keep government and insurance companies out of my room

I recently had the misfor- tune to spend a total of 54 days in two hospitals in the Valley. Both were very fine institutions.

The main problem is most decisions are dictated by government regulations or insurance company mandates. The caregivers opinion is secondary. This will only worsen as we learn (as Nancy Pelosi says) what’s in Obamacare. I am too old to allow a government panel to decide if something my fine doctor wants to do is “cost effective.”

My recovery and comfort were only made possible by the extra efforts of many caring, compassionate people to physicians. Even the couple of grouches were very effective.

I have seen firsthand the need to get the Obama administration and insurance companies out of my hospital room and let medical staff do their job.

Robert Husted, New Springfield

Liberty’s call center is a luxury

The Liberty police want their emergency call center to be kept in Liberty Township and are trying to scare people into thinking that they won’t be protected if the calls are received at the Trumbull County emergency center. That is not true. The number 911 is the adopted emergency telephone number in the United States and connects you to an operator in a call center. An emergency call center (whether local or regional) is only a location where your telephone call will be received and forwarded to local police and fire first responders. The ambulance, fire and police emergency vehicles will still come from Liberty Township.

Here are the facts.

26 first responder units already utilize the Trumbull County 911 call center.

It is estimated that Liberty Township will save $255,000 per year by switching to the Trumbull 911 call center. Trumbull County has offered Liberty a three- year contract at $4.40 per phone call. We are now paying over $20 per phone call to have our own 911 call center. That amounts to $300,000 vs. $42,000 per year for Trumbull 911 call center to answer calls.

The Liberty Police Department costs have been running in the red. The trustees are trying to do their job — manage costs. They want to finish this task and not have to ask for an increase in property taxes.

The trustees have stated that the current levy will not support the cost of Liberty’s 911 call center. There will have to be an increase in this levy unless the township utilizes the Trumbull County 911.

The fiscal management of our local schools is being supervised by a state commission and we will probably see an additional school levy.

We already pay the highest tax rate in the county and one of the highest in the state. There are only 16 other communities higher than ours in Ohio.

Four employees at Liberty 911 call center have been offered jobs at Trumbull County 911 call center. No one is going to lose his/her job.

The judge has ruled that Liberty is not entitled to funds to upgrade its 911 call system to be able to locate wireless phones. The funds will go to Trumbull.

Allegheny County, Pa., has one call center that serves over 1 million people. Mercer County has one call center. These call centers are state of the art. It does not matter where the calls originate. They are answered at one call center and dispatched to the nearest first responder.

We elected trustees to be good fiscal managers of the public’s money and we hope they will go ahead and move to the Trumbull 911 call center.

Carole LaFave, Liberty

On birth control, court has spoken

The constitutional debate over the mandate on birth control coverage has already been decided by the Supreme Court of the United States.

In 2004, the Supreme Court turned down an appeal by Catholic Charities to review a similar law, the California Women’s Contraceptive Equity Act. That law mandated that employers include contraceptive care in an employee’s medical benefits package. Catholic Charities based their argument on the free exercise clause of the Constitution. (citation: Catholic Charities v. Superior Court)

In 2007, the Supreme Court turned down the appeal by Catholic Charities to review the New York Women’s Health and Wellness Act. That law required insurance companies to cover women’s preventative health care, including mandating that employer’s insurance plans that cover prescription drugs must include contraceptive coverage. Exempted from the New York law were religious employers whose principle purpose was promoting a particular religious faith, and who primarily serve people who share that religious faith. Again Catholic Charities argued infringement of the free exercise clause. (citation: Catholic Charities v. Dinallo)

The Affordable Health Care birth control coverage mandates that are being so hotly debated as violations of our religious freedoms appear to be identical to the issues that the Supreme Court has already decided. By refusing to take up the appeals, the court is affirming the constitutional validity of these mandates.

While people may have personal disagreement with the court’s decision, the Supreme Court is the legal arbiter of the Constitution.

Robert Elston, New Middletown

Truck driver is getting off easy

Donald P. Williams is going to prison for “up to” (whatever that means) 31 years for killing three young Marine Corps recruits. Does this guy lead some kind of a charmed life? What will it take to put him in prison for good so he can’t kill any more people, and ruin the lives of their families?

He’s not some first-time offender who only made one mistake. He has already been convicted of drug-trafficking, drug abuse, three DUIs, and allowing his daughter and other juveniles to use drugs and alcohol in an Austintown motel room. Why was he even still allowed to be driving?

My heart aches for the families of these innocent young men, and my blood boils at what I consider to be a slap on the wrist for this killer.

Catherine A. Swan, Warren

Other retirees got shortchanged

Your Feb. 19 editorial asks Jay Williams to make a case to the Obama administration for saving the pensions of Delphi salaried employees.

I have nothing against these employees, and I do hope they are treated justly. Like them, I also was promised a very good pension. (I was also promised lifelong medical benefits as well, when I started with the company, but that was dropped along the way.) After working for my company for 28 years, they closed their doors. The company was Ajax Magnethermic.

I, too, lost a very large portion of my pension, but no one cares about those of us who didn’t work at Delphi. Is this fair?

Robert Lowe, Girard

President contributes to gas price

Again, we are hearing the dire warnings about the cost of oil and how it will skyrocket by summer. And frankly, I believe it will. But I write to explain what controls the cost and how our president is adding to the problem.

It would be dishonest to ignore the current situation in the Middle East in the petroleum debate. This “powder keg” is having a detrimental impact on the cost

See Letters, A15

LeTters

Continued from A14

of crude, even as we speak. But there are measures, that had they been in place, would have avoided the impending catastrophe.

First, the cost of crude oil is controlled, like every other commodity, by speculators in the market. They look at futures supply and demands and set the price. They often bid on prices five and 10 years down the road, based on the best guess of what will be in the future. Here is what the future looks like to them with this current president. No offshore drilling, no new refineries to handle the hugely increased volume, and no Keystone Pipeline in our future.

It looks like demand is going through the roof and supply is predicted to be at an all time low. Result: sky high oil, and subsequently, gas prices for the foreseeable future.

If you recall, during the middle of George W. Bush’s presidency, our Middle East oil producing “allies” jacked up the cost of crude and limited distribution to affect the price greatly in their favor. So what did President Bush do in response to this? He signed a largely symbolic presidential order lifting the ban on offshore oil exploration. The price of crude went from somewhere in the $95 range to about $35 in a five-week period. The mere threat of more supply caused the speculators to run for cover.

Our current president, in slavish loyalty to his environmental supporters, has done nothing to imply an increase in domestic supply in the future.

Time is ripe for citizens to contact their congressional representatives and senators asking them to pressure the White House into creating a domestic supply. If we fail to do this, we will be doomed to gasoline prices that will land close to the $6 to $7 range.

M. Ben Melnykovich, Lake Milton

Praise for the WRTA

I’m sharing some good news for a change. WRTA drivers are very kind people. They treat us passengers very well.

On two different days when it was cold a driver let people on the bus to warm up while waiting for other buses.

One passenger didn’t have enough money, and the driver gave his own money. There are some good people in the city, and they should be recognized.

Keep up the good work WRTA.

Johanna Morrison, Boardman