Ohio lawmakers have obligation to extend expansion of Medicaid

Opinion: March 8, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

Medicaid helps Ohio. And it helps the Mahoning Valley, too.

That is the message the Ohio General Assembly should deliver this year. We urge legislators to maintain full Medicaid funding in Ohio in the fiscal years 2016-17 state budget. These are dollars that already are benefiting Ohio’s economy, helping real people in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties and throughout the state.

The evidence is clear: Under expanded Medicaid eligibility in 2014, more Ohioans were insured and the state’s economy benefited with a healthier and more productive workforce. More than 24,000 people in the Mahoning Valley — and more than 450,000 statewide — have enrolled for expanded Medicaid benefits.

Those audiences include young adults working in jobs that don’t provide benefits, people who cannot afford essential medications, laid-off workers struggling to pay for health care, and entrepreneurs who don’t yet have a steady source of income.

With benefits, they can get healthy and stay healthy, connecting with a medical home and a primary-care physician.

At Mercy Health Youngstown, formerly Humility of Mary Health Partners, we have delivered care to 47 percent more Medicaid patients, people who previously were uninsured.

We are part of Mercy Health, Ohio’s largest health-care provider, which has experienced a 19 percent increase statewide. We continue to invest nearly $1 million a day in free care, and other community benefit programs targeting people who are poor and under-served. We will not waver on that commitment.

Full Medicaid funding also will keep $13 billion in Ohio tax dollars in our state during the next seven years.

This is not a new expansion of Medicaid. Ohio should not take away benefits that already are helping Ohioans, improving our health care system and strengthening our economy.

Robert Shroder, Youngstown

Robert Shroder is president and CEO of Mercy Health, formerly Humility of Mary Health Partners.

How could Mahoning Democrats endorse tax delinquent for council?

When I read the article on the front page of Friday’s Vindicator regarding, “Candidate owes taxes to county and state,” I couldn’t believe what I saw in print.

How on earth could Mr. John Vivo even think of running for a government office when he doesn’t abide by the law? This man is delinquent in his property taxes; he states he will use “a majority” of the salary he would be paid (if elected) to pay his taxes.

What he is blatantly saying is this: You elect me, and you can pay my taxes for me. I do hope the people of Youngstown’s 7th Ward aren’t willing to fall for this “scam” by Mr. Vivo.

He should be embarrassed to even have thought of running for an elected office. Property tax delinquencies are published in your paper, so shame on the Mahoning County Democratic Party for not checking this out before endorsing him.

Janice Ferry, Liberty

From Smoot-Hawley to NAFTA, Vindy learns nothing in 85 years

The Vindicator editorial page is unduly fond of tariffs and local politicians who endorse them. ( “Keep ‘fast track’ for trade pacts off congressional track” of Feb. 28). On the other hand, what The Vindicator lacks in economic understanding it compensates with an unswerving consistency untainted by experience.

In June 1930, shortly before the enactment of the disastrous Smoot-Hawley tariff, The Vindicator wrote, “Every tariff is unpopular at the time it is made. As unpopular as this bill is, we shall all think better of it a year from now when business conditions are normal again — as they surely will be long before then.” At the time of that editorial, the unemployment rate in the United States was 6.3 percent. A year later it was 15 percent, and it would rise to 26 percent by June 1932. Most economists ascribe a large share of the blame for the Great Depression to that tariff.

Supporters of tariffs claim that their goal is to protect domestic industry from foreign competition, and occasionally they throw in an arguable concern for labor conditions and the environment. Perhaps they are sincere. But the mechanism by which they try to achieve this alleged purpose is stifling free trade. Tariffs raise the price of foreign goods in America, and retaliatory tariffs in foreign countries raise the price of American goods there.

The Vindicator cites a report by the Economic Policy Institute claiming that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) cost America many jobs and created a trade deficit. Since the EPI, like Congressman Tim Ryan’s re-election campaigns, receives generous financial support from Big Labor, its assessment must be viewed with a skeptical eye. In fact, the Office of the United States Trade Representative reports that U.S. exports to NAFTA countries have skyrocketed 258 percent since implementation of the treaty.

Congressman Ryan, of course, is not now mounting a defense of tariffs per se. Rather, he now bestirs himself, he says, to defend the principle of legislative authority. He does not deny that trade agreements do not become law without congressional approval. The fast track process prevents Congress from amending trade agreements, but Congress retains the power to reject them entirely. The Congressman, renowned for his mindfulness, must surely be mindful of this: Allowing amendments to the agreement is not a mechanism of improving it, but rather a way to subject it to death by a thousand cuts. It may be said of The Vindicator and Congressman Ryan, as it was said of the royal house of France, “they have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.”

Eric Chevlen, MD, Liberty

Hypocrisy of Congress on Israel brings great shame to America

Last week, Congress enter- tained Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel as he addressed Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. In 2003, when he came to speak to Congress, he called for “disarming” Iraq and supported a war to invade the country. This recent address was too familiar and laced with hypocrisy.

Netanyahu kept referring to Iran as religious extremists, but what Congress fails to recognize is that Netanyahu and Israel are also religious extremists who have hijacked the beautiful religion of Judaism. Recently, Netanyahu made it entirely clear that non-Jews will never have the same rights as Jews.

Netanyahu is outright denying 6 million non-Jews of their God-given rights, and Congress entertained him with a blind eye to the occupation and continued mass murder of non-Jewish people. Congress justifies its ignorance to these facts by repeating a lie to themselves: Israel is the only “democracy” in the Middle East, and they are a friend of the U.S.

However, in the last few years, Netanyahu has completely disrespected U.S. diplomatic efforts, and repeatedly defied Obama and others. Netanyahu literally did the opposite of what was requested of him, yet he continues to collect $15 billion a year from U.S. taxpayers (meanwhile U.S. infrastructure is falling apart).

At first glance, one can only ask how this has continued for so long, but the answer is simple: the Israeli lobby AIPAC, a $65 billion organization, has its branding iron on our congressmen. They’ve instilled fear in our Congress unlike any other; those who speak out are targeted. The result is that Congress doesn’t do what is right; they do what Israel wants them to do.

This hypocrisy is unsustainable, and one day it will end. But until then, it remains the single greatest shame of which I am embarrassed of as an American citizen.

Hanna Kassis, Lakewood

Kassis is a Girard native and self-employed entrepreneur.