Defiant humanity at the border
When I heard the most recent reports that the Republican administration continues to separate vulnerable families, holding them in horrific conditions, I was sickened. As more information emerges, such as the Office of Inspector General report and alert, my experience of shock, outrage and helplessness grows as I try to reconcile this with the America I love.
I am grateful that congressional leaders are visiting the U.S. asylum seekers’ detention camps. Our senators disgracefully accomplished nothing except to throw more tax dollars to the for-profit detention contractors who are described as a “ multi-billion dollar industry,” yet apparently can’t give children toothbrushes, diapers or medical care, and deny running water for sanitation.
The horrific accounts in the government’s own reports, of warehousing and neglect of vulnerable children, haunt me. Yet it seemed that nobody, certainly no Republican in power, would take any actions.
Until a group of congressional Democrats began to visit, that is. But they showed up, got in, provided a little comfort that so many of us long to provide, and reported back. We must make sure they go back, in oversight on this reckless and dangerous executive branch
I am not a religious person, but I begged God for someone to intervene, and they went. They are reporting back where the press is denied, investigating abuses that are identified. Thank God for their defiant humanity.
Lisa Tuttle
Whitefield
Affordable Care Act failures
On June 20, Sen. Angus King co-sponsored a bill restoring funding to navigators under the Affordable Care Act. Based on my experience as an ACA (Obamacare) navigator, I think this is simply a feel-good measure and will do little to actually help Mainers.
The ACA was intended to provide accessible, affordable health care. But, after working with hundreds of people in the Blue Hill Peninsula over the last six years, I see prices soaring and the ACA covering fewer people.
If you don’t qualify for a subsidy, the ACA is not affordable. A Hancock County couple in their mid-40s with a family income of $70 thousand would pay over 35 percent of their earnings in premiums, copays and deductibles. This Hancock couple can’t afford to be insured and I have worked with many others in the same situation. The ACA is restrictive. Networks are becoming more limited and there are fewer plans that address chronic conditions such as diabetes. Finally, the ACA is complicated. Why should a “navigator” be needed?
The biggest failure of the ACA is that it has no effective mechanism to control costs. Insurers do not have an incentive to limit hospital, provider and drug prices since higher prices boost their profits. Furthermore, current law actually forbids Medicare to negotiate drug costs.
I urge King to do something meaningful. Become a co-sponsor of the Medicare for All Act of 2019. We need everyone to have access to health care and we need the ability to control costs, not just some window dressing.
Lynn Cheney
Blue Hill
Ditch the ditches
Driving down Route 1 you are presented with road work ahead signs. But the roads are not getting any better. Instead of fixing the road surface the busy crews are digging ditches. All over the state, which claims to be shot of funding for road repairs, this exercise in questionable spending seems to be going on. I challenge anyone to show me how this is a positive use of taxpayers monies.
Properly constructed roads have a crown in the center which directs rain water to the sides of the driving surface where it is absorbed into the ground. With the advent of ditches, water flows as water does downstream carrying soil with it — that’s erosion. The other issue is safety: drivers have no place to go in the event of an oncoming vehicle, deer or moose, or a blowout. All of the listed concerns put you into a ditch, which is deep enough to roll your vehicle over.
How have we gotten along without these ditches in the past? Just fine! How about spending our limited resources on the horrible roads we have to traverse every day.
Leo Mazerall
Stockton Springs