Focus on costs

Thanks to Dr. Erik Steele for his priceless analogy comparing members of Congress to a team of emergency-room physicians treating a severely injured, combative patient — the U.S. health care system. Dr. Pelosi and her team “knocked the struggling patient out” and “took control of the chaos so they could take care of the patient.”

But Steele concedes that the real cause of all our pain is the unaffordable cost of health care, not lack of insurance coverage. So now that the patient has been rendered unconscious by Madame Speaker’s oversize gavel, the ER docs must begin the task of controlling costs, i.e., figuring out how to stop the patient from bleeding to death.

Bear in mind that government is already responsible for about 50 cents of every dollar spent on health care, making it one of the most highly regulated sectors of the economy. Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP costs are exploding, with no end in sight. Last year the Medicare trustees reported unfunded liabilities of nearly $40 trillion.

Why would any rational person expect the folks who presided over the Fannie and Freddie subprime mortgage meltdown to competently manage health care? This collection of ethics-challenged, scandal-plagued charlatans should be run out of town before they do any more damage. The last place you want them is in the ER, making life and death decisions.

Let’s see if members of Congress agree to join the same health plan they’ve concocted for their heavily sedated patient.

Lawrence Lockman

Amherst

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The dirty sock strategy

If there weren’t so much at stake in the Mallinckrodt-HoltraChem story, their whining and deep investment in PR puffery — to convince us rubes that the plan to do a partial cleanup ought to be good enough for Orrington — and threats of endless appeals would be amusing. I’m not a scientist, but here’s how it looks to me:

A boy leaves two dirty socks on the living room rug, and is told by his mom to pick them up. He offers to pick one up, and leave the other on the floor covered by a magazine.

His mom naturally objects to this weasely suggestion, and points out it will take him only a minute. The boy says it would take him half a minute to pick up one, but four hours to pick up both, because if his mom continues to insist on it, he’s going to stand there arguing for another four hours.

What really needs to happen is for this company — which owns this mess — to act like an adult, stop pouting about it and clean it all up now.

Paul Tormey

Orrington

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Still cause for hope

It seems like there has been a flood of recent news reports of public school funding being slashed to the point where vital programs are being eliminated, teachers being fired en masse, and support help such as custodians being fired and replaced with low-paid contract workers receiving no benefits. This is an example of why the optimism that each generation of Americans have had — that life will be even better for their children — is being replaced in many by disillusionment and fear that America has seen its best days.

Fueling these fears has been gridlock in Congress. The recent passage of comprehensive health care legislation is a hopeful sign that change is still possible. Passage of legislation designed to rein in Wall Street and too-big-to-fail banks, increase job opportunities, fund rebuilding America’s infrastructure and focus on bolstering education in America would be a cause for optimism.

Unfortunately, it’s still OK to give the military all the money it wants for unneeded weapons systems and fund an open-ended commitment to keeping troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Seems it’s OK to pay for building schools and infrastructure in those countries while at the same time ruthlessly allowing our own to decay. Hopefully, these attitudes will change so that taxpayer money will not continue to hemorrhage on overseas boondoggles.

Gene Clifford

Southwest Harbor

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Losing moderate vote

Even though I have been a lifelong Democrat, I have, on several occasions, voted for Republicans such as Bill Cohen, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, because as moderates, they have represented the people of Maine and their needs in a very effective manner.

However, with the passage of the health care reform act and the complete lack of support from Republicans, including Sens. Collins and Snowe, I believe both senators will lose the votes of both moderate Democrats and independent voters.

What is their justification for a “no” vote on a bill that prohibits denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions, something that has been law in Maine for several years? Or for a bill that expands Medicaid coverage for people with incomes at too high a level to be covered under current regulations, a bill that prohibits canceling coverage when an individual becomes sick, and a bill that provides tax credits for small businesses and financial assistance for individuals to purchase health insurance?

As far as I am concerned, there is no justification. And consequently, as a liberal Democrat, I will exercise my no vote and will never again vote for either Sen. Snowe or Sen. Collins.

Mark D. Roth

Bangor

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Strange request

What a strange request by the speaker pictured on your front page of the Monday, March 29 paper.

He must not be very proud of his appearance as a speaker at the Tea Party gathering in Old Town. He was in costume and “requested he not be identified.” If the speaker is so proud of his stand as part of a movement to curb “progressive” politics, he should not be afraid to identify himself.

I am not afraid to identify myself as being totally opposed to the Tea Party.

Sally Pennington

Waldoboro

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History, tea partiers

I am responding to the article about the Old Town Tea Party event (BDN, March 29). I wish that all these people would actually research the facts instead of regurgitating the false and fear-mongering words of people who have no interest in the truth.

The statement that we are paying higher taxes than ever before is a lie. The American people in the 1950s paid very high taxes to build the incredible infrastructure that made this country so great, but which now is crumbling around us.

We are rapidly becoming a mean and spiteful people and I see little hope until people start to address facts, not fear. I suggest turning all the news channels off and going to the library, while we still have them, to read some history books.

Jan Beckett

Milford

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Jacobson job producer

I recently had the pleasure of accompanying Matt Jacobson on a two-day tour of Aroostook County and after spending a considerable amount of time with him, I am convinced he has all the tools to be an effective leader and job producer as the next governor of our great state.

When crafting the job description of the next chief executive officer of Maine, I would want a person who has admirably served our country in the armed forces, has successfully run and expanded a Maine business in a highly regulated and unionized industry, recognized what it took to attract jobs to Maine and has actually done so, and who is just a regular person with tons of integrity who cares for his family and fellow citizens.

I would also add a footnote to this job description that “previous political experience is not a plus.”

I have just described Matt Jacobson. I can’t think of a better time for Maine to have someone of Matt’s caliber working for us. Matt Jacobson has the whole package and will be a governor who will produce results for Maine citizens.

Brian N. Hamel

Presque Isle

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Act before tragedy

Thank you for covering the issue of severe mental illness in your recent article “Use of insanity defense in Maine on the rise.” I’d like to clarify that I am not an activist for people who commit crimes – I advocate for improving laws for the treatment of individuals with severe mental illness.

I know firsthand how difficult it is to get treatment for a family member too ill to understand they need help. “Lack of insight” is a distinguishing symptom in many individuals with schizophrenia or bipolar who can sometimes benefit from involuntary treatment.

Maine’s outdated commitment laws protect the civil rights of these individuals, which is important, but often do so at the expense of safety and quality of life for the individuals, their families and the community.

I have worked with Sens. Peter Mills and John Nutting toward changing these laws to strike a balance between the civil rights of the individual, and consideration of the rights of the families — the true caregivers of the mentally ill.

LD 1360, a bill drafted by Sen. Mills, will soon be up for a vote in the Legislature. This legislation will bring us one step closer to getting severely mentally ill individuals the help they need, reducing the stress on families, and more importantly – before tragedy occurs.

Joe Bruce

Caratunk

Nostalgic for Bangor

Occasionally I miss a story written by Wayne Reilly in the BDN. Fortunately, his past stories are posted on the BDN’s Web site.

Bangor has a fascinating past. Wayne Reilly has a unique flair for incorporating lines and quotes from past newspaper articles from the Queen City’s bygone eras into his stories. When reading his columns, not only do you get an invaluable history lesson including facts and photos, you also get a feeling of nostalgia.

The quotes of actual Bangoreans capture the lingo, local political and civic concerns and the signs of the times. It’s very much like unearthing a time capsule. Quoting a sentence in his last article regarding the former Bijou Theater, “Many people I suspect, would gladly pay the price of a new DVD player, perhaps even an entertainment center, for a chance to go back in time to the old theater to revisit once more what popular entertainment was all about before the big box theaters and the VCR took a lot of fun out of going to the movies.”

Wayne, I’d gladly pay the price!

Rodney A. Duplisea

Bangor

UMaine and women’s world

As a mother of daughters, I’m strongly opposed to the University of Maine dropping the women’s studies major.

I was born into a society just beginning to realize that “Leave It To Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” did not provide ideal role models for my gender. Magazines advised me to focus on boys’ interests and never give a hint that I could be smarter than them. My mom scared the wits out of me one year because menopause was a deep, dark secret.

We’ve come a long way. But we still have far to go to achieve true gender equity. We need our best and brightest to move us toward a world in which: girls aren’t taught from preschool on that their prime roles are shoppers and hotties; where we evaluate male and female political candidates by the same criteria; in which drugs and other “advances” like genetic engineering of food are evaluated for their long term effect on women; where menopause is seen as a normal stage in a vibrant woman’s life, not an illness to be treated with drugs.

Women make up over half the population of Maine and an even bigger percentage of the University of Maine student body. Please do not let the university cut out the one major that takes our personhood seriously. There are plenty of people and companies with vested interests in maintaining the status quo or going back to the “good old” days.

Julia Emily Hathaway

Veazie

Don’t cut MPA major

What could possibly justify the wholesale dismantling of the entire department of Public Administration at the University of Maine? The department provides cities and towns across Maine with managers for our municipal governments,

professionals who keep our hospitals operating and public servants who are the lifeblood of nonprofit organizations.

Our nation is now experiencing what many are calling the Great Recession, and as a result more people than ever before are deciding to go back to school. In response, the University of Maine should be opening its doors, not closing them; it should be adding faculty, not dismissing them.

I chose the University of Maine over other schools because I knew that it would provide me with a learning environment where I would receive individual attention from faculty, as well as support from fellow students. I decided to pursue my Masters in Public Administration at UMaine because I know it will one day give me the opportunity to give back to my community and best serve the public.

I urge UMaine to reconsider before it takes that opportunity away from future public servants. In order to strive for excellence as the premier university in Maine it is necessary that we maintain intellectual endeavors in all aspects of higher learning and offer our prospective students a broad array of programs to choose from. This is the only way to maintain our competitive edge in an increasingly competitive system.

Craig Castagna

Orono