Tell reps in Congress: Leave Medicare alone

Tell reps in Congress: Leave Medicare alone

On Nov, 21, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Howland, promised a “Youngstown Street Fight” if the GOP-led Congress went after the programs that Ohioans depend on, such as Medicare. Unfortunately, it looks like that fight is going to happen on Capitol Hill in the early days of the Trump administration.

Privatizing Medicare, and putting the care that 1 in 6 Ohioans depends on in jeopardy are top priorities of Speaker Paul Ryan and the president-elect’s choice for secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price.

According to GOP Speaker Ryan’s “Better Way” agenda, Congress will replace the current system with a voucher program where individuals will be provided subsidies to buy private insurance. This is an age-old song we have seen fail time and time again. They will try to sell this to the American public, claiming that the Medicare fund is insolvent, or will be in the next decade thanks to government mismanagement when that is simply not true.

Medicare is very well managed; in 2015, administrative expenses took less than 2 percent of all of its expenditures.

Now is the time to stand up and support our legislators who have promised to defend Medicare, such as Valley Rep. Ryan and Sen.Sherrod Brown, while voicing our opposition to those, like Sen. Rob Portman, who have hopes of privatizing it.

I’d urge all of my fellow Ohioans to call, email, tweet or send letters and tell Congress to keep their hands off of Medicare.

Christopher Anderson, Boardman

Ohio legislators attack home rule, Constitution

Last week, Gov. John Kasich vetoed the controversial “Heartbeat Bill.” In his veto message, Kasich cited the fact that in two other states, courts deemed similar bills unconstitutional and that the Supreme Court refused to review those decisions. He went on to state the inevitability that signing the bill would cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. The truth is this type of effort by our Republican-controlled House and Senate is already costing taxpayers.

The controversial Heartbeat Bill was actually a last-minute amendment, inserted into a bill dealing with child abuse. Senate Democrats received notification of the addition just an hour prior to the start of their session. This type of 11th-hour work is not uncommon for lame-duck legislators with seemingly nothing to lose.

Another bill that sought to regulate where pet stores purchased animals appears pro-puppy mill, and not only that, included amendments that prohibit local governments from raising their minimum wage. The law restricts one of Ohio’s poorest cities, Cleveland, from allowing the voters to decide the issue next year.

Whether these bills make it into law is irrelevant. The attacks on home rule and the U.S. Constitution, appearing in the form of ridiculous last-minute amendments proposed by our elected officials, have already cost taxpayers and are a sign of terrible things to come if we do not hold our politicians accountable.

Brian Pearson, Youngstown