Donald Trump must accept the opinion of scientists - letter echo

A West Virginia echo opinion letter published in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, submitted by Merri Morgan in Greenville, West Virginia

Donald Trump desperately wants people back to work as soon as possible and is now urging the governors to end stay-at-home restrictions.

The scientists say we cannot possibly do that safely without more testing. Indeed, they are insisting about the need for much more testing.

Trump congratulates himself that over 4,000,000 Americans have been tested. HELLO? That is just over 1% of the U.S. population.

Trump says it’s up to the states to do testing. Still, the governors are doing all they can in dealing with the virus, and scientists say testing is severely hampered by shortages of swabs and chemical reagents.

Also, Trump stated that he takes no responsibility for anything, and he’s been doing a great job. If former president Harry Truman were still alive, that might astonish him. The sign on Truman’s desk read: “The Buck Stops Here.”

For one, I am listening to the scientists. 

Lying Traitor Trump has zero interest in protecting American lives. He is ignorant and ignores medical science.

Indeed, day after day, Trump’s pronouncements on the virus consist of misinformation, disinformation, nonsense and outright lies. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s medical hero, is forced to contradict him. Some people don’t like it when Dr. Fauci contradicts Trump. Apparently, some people want their medical decisions made by Trump.

Again, I, for one, do not want my life or that of my very vulnerable grandson with cystic fibrosis endangered so the economy can flourish while people die.

From Merri Morgan, writing from Greenville, West Virginia, an opinion letter published in the Charleston Gazette-Mail (A Pulitizer Prize Winning newspaper.)

Wealthiest nation must prioritize health care for all

Although Donald Trump summoned a cult of made for television faces to applaud while he gave an uninspired stump speech in West Virginia, the fact of the matter is this - many Mountain State people oppose his Trumponian policies, particularly about health care.

Here is another "echo" re-posted letter to the editor, printed in the August 5, 2017, Charleston West Virginia Gazette Mail (a Pulitzer winning newspaper), published by the editor.

A CPA wrote to the editor about how one company where she worked put the money saved by implementing a new employee benefits plan into a CEO fund- "golden parachutes", money from the employees who contributed and never got their investments back.

Congress must repair and keep the ACA

I am a CPA with 30-plus years of experience, including benefits administration. I understand the nuances of the health care debate and the reasons why medical benefits have been systematically eliminated by employers over the past 20 years. I am appalled that our elected leaders refuse to address health insurance inequality.

I became passionate about this subject in the 1990s. I worked at a Michigan utility company when health insurance premiums began rising dramatically. 

My company chose to revamp the employee benefits package, resulting in cuts to our pension and medical benefits. 

Retiree medical benefits were eliminated. Six months after the new benefit package was rolled out to more than 3,000 employees, the $3 million annual cost savings was used to implement a Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan for the 10 top executives. Sound familiar? This trend has been going on for years. It did NOT begin with the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

Prior to the passage of the ACA, our eldest and unmarried daughter was denied coverage due to a suspicious pap smear. She could become eligible for Medicaid if she got pregnant. Really? We all know someone who has been denied coverage.

Why is our country the only developed nation that doesn’t acknowledge health care to be a basic human right? How can we live in the richest country in the world and not care about everyone’s health? Why do we allow legislators to concoct draconian health care bills behind closed doors? Why aren’t the legislators subject to the same reduction in benefits as the people they “represent”?

Congress must include diverse opinions and hold public hearings before they implement significant legislation. They must hold town hall meetings and listen to their constituents who reject both the House and Senate health care bills. Please, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, now!

Susan Shirkey, Bradenton, Fla.

In fact, MedicareForAll would allow for the current law governing this benefit to expand coverage for everyone who qualifies, becasue working people who receive salaries and their employers contribute to this dedicated fund. It's time for all who contribute to have access to the coverage.

West Virginia opinion echo - support for health care vote

Although Donald Trump staged a made for TV reality show "beer  hall" style  rally in West Virginia on Thursday Aug 3, (no doubt he needed a boost in his self esteem), the newspaper Charleston Gazette Mail is giving a vote of confidence to the state's two Democratic senators: Senator Joe Manchin and Senator Shelley Moore Capito,  for standing up for health care. 

Gazette editorial: Cheers for unsung health care vote heroes

Senator Joe Manchin D-WVa

During the vote to repeal health care for millions of Americans, throw large sections of the health industry into chaos and drive up prices for the remaining Americans and businesses who buy health insurance, there was an audible gasp in the chamber when Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, voted no.

\

Senator Shelley Moore Capito D-WVa

McCain is a hero, many times over, no question. But as The Washington Post’s Philip Bump suggestedshortly after the vote, let’s save some praise for other senators who constituted the narrow majority.

“In other words, those 50 people helped McCain be the political winner,” Bump wrote. He cites seven in particular:

Five Democrats from states that vote Republican. First among those is West Virginia’s Sen. Joe Manchin.

Manchin, who as governor and as a state legislator, learned the importance of a humane and economical program such as Medicaid. He knows how cruel and financially shortsighted it would be take health coverage from the people he was elected to serve.

• Manchin never wavered in his opposition to dangerous repeal proposals. 

He was in good company with Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Jon Tester of Montana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Joe Donnelly of Indiana.

• Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also never wavered. She opposed the motion to proceed.
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, also held steady, 

In fact, Murkowski voted against both the bill and earlier procedural vote despite pressure from the administration. Bump suggests she got a call from the interior secretary reminding her of projects important to her state.

“In a 51-49 vote, every vote is the deciding vote, even the ones that were quietly there all along,” Bump wrote.

It’s important to remember what this vote was. It was a secret, who-knows-what bill contrived so Republicans who ran on a promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act they have vilified for years could give the impression of doing so. It is about politically saving face, not serving Americans or plotting sound economic policy. The so-called “skinny repeal” had potential to do plenty of damage, pulling at threads of the system without solving old problems and creating new ones.

All the senators who rejected this ill-conceived attack on people’s health and their economy deserve praise from their constituents.

More jewels - letters to the editor about health care showing up like diamond dust

It's become a hobby of mine to search out letters to the editors in newspapers published in states like Tenneseee, Kentucky and West Virginia. In fact, I'm driven to do this because it's impossible for me to believe the good and thoughtful people who live in these states are a monolith of right wing nuts. Surely, there is hope for the human condition when brave citizens are able to write thoughtful "letters to the editor", in their favorite newspapers, as reminders about how "hope springs eternal" for those of us who pray for Americans to find their way back to a progressive agenda. Perhaps the health care insurance coverage is one path to finding our beacon of reason?

Here is just such a thoughtful letter published in the West Virginia Charleston Gazette-Journal (a Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper):

Letter: Health care is not an ‘issue,’ it’s a need all people have

Olga Gioulis, SuttonWV

Some in our community do not fully know what the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, has done for the citizens of West Virginia.

The ACA has helped 175,000 West Virginians obtain health care and brought in millions in federal funding that pay for these benefits. Benefits include disregarding pre-existing conditions such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, etc insuring children until age 26, reasonable deductibles and subsidies to help low income workers pay for their premiums.

Expanded Medicaid and subsidies for private insurance give low-income working people the opportunity to have health care. Even though employed, many could not afford the premiums each month. The expansion helped those addicted to opioids who had no way to pay for treatment and went without. The most significant source of coverage for the substance abuse epidemic we have been experiencing is through Medicaid expansion.

Hospitals can now get paid for the services that they had to “eat” before. More health care workers were hired who would be at risk for job loss without the ACA. Women received better family planning options, cancer screening and prenatal care.

Health care is not a Republican or Democratic issue, not a liberal or conservative position. It is a need that all people have. In 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Social Security benefits into law so that millions of retired Americans could have a basic income. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson did the same for Medicare so millions of retirees were guaranteed health care.

Not until 2010, when President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, did the rest of U.S. citizens finally have health care. Most advanced nations have had universal health care for many years, even those from poorer countries.

Most people will agree that the ACA can be improved on in order to bring down premium prices, improve the high cost of drugs and fix other issues. But this can be done without losing the coverage so recently granted. I hope this information helps all of us think about this important issue. 

Let your representatives hear from you now.

Olga Gioulis,  Sutton

(MaineWriter- Thank You Olga! Your letter is among my LTE "jewels".)

Let's hear from those Trump coal miners!

In recent "made for White House photo albums" (like the annual Easter Monday egg roll or even the portrait taken with the Super Bowl Champions New England Patriots), the missing guests in the pictures are the much talked about, unemployed or sick, coal miners. Where are they?

"Unfortunately, most of the Trump administration’s moves so far seem like they’ll only be helping coal executives"

Chuck Nelson is a former coal miner from Sylvester, West Virginia

Finally! The Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper (2017) The Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia, published real news about this group of hard working people who cast their votes with Donald Trump, because he would "Make Them Great Again".

Chuck Nelson: Government must keep promise to miners (Daily Mail) 

I’m proud to have worked as a coal miner for nearly 30 years, and to have been part of the workforce that kept America’s lights on. But mining has taken its toll on me.
Mining is dangerous work, and breathing coal dust underground for so long isn’t good for the body.

My mining-related medical history runs about a mile long: I’ve had treatments for black lung, for a bad back, a failed kidney — you name it.

I knew the health risks when I signed up for the job. Fourth-generation miners like me have seen family and friends struggle with health problems from a lifetime of working with coal.

Miners are nearly four times as likely to incur fatal and severe injuries on the job than the average U.S. worker. A recent report shows that rates of black lung among miners may be 10 times higher than government estimates.

But when I first went underground in 1975, I had a promise from the government and from the coal companies: help us power the country, and we’ll help you with bills. I was told I’d receive the best health care money could buy and a comfortable pension as thanks for this dangerous work when I retired.

I foresaw the upcoming doctor’s visits — even as I hoped they wouldn’t happen — and I knew how to keep myself safe on the job.

What I couldn’t foresee was that my employers and the government would someday turn their backs on me, my family and my fellow miners, just when we need them most.

I’m one of 23,000 retired miners at risk of losing our health care and pension coverage this year.

In 1946, the government and the United Mine Workers of America established a fund for miners supplied with money from the coal companies. Thousands of spouses, widows, children and other dependents also rely on this fund.


But without action from Congress by the end of this month, those of us who were promised care will be left out in the cold.

As coal has taken an economic downturn, the fund is in jeopardy. Coal companies who declared bankruptcy between 2012 and 2015 no longer have to pay into the fund, depleting most of its revenue source. Over three dozen companies declared bankruptcy during that time period, including three of the four top coal producers in the country.

There’s a lot of talk about what’s responsible for the decline of coal. But it’s clear that not only is the government ignoring miners, but that coal companies are breaking promises to take care of employees who were so instrumental to their success.

Even as they declared bankruptcy, these giant companies somehow found the money to take care of the folks at the top. Peabody is planning to pay out $12 million in bonuses for only six executives as part of its bankruptcy plan. That $12 million would go a long way toward paying off miner health care bills — but I somehow doubt that we’ll be seeing any of that cash here.

Donald Trump promised to help miners and bring back the coal industry. Many miners elected him to steer the government back to working for us, keeping our health care and pensions safe and creating jobs in our communities.

Unfortunately, most of the Trump administration’s moves so far seem like they’ll only be helping coal executives. Financial analysts say prospects for coal jobs are slim, even with Trump’s attempts to roll back regulations. Washington’s strategies to “help” the industry may end up padding executive pockets instead of creating jobs.

If Washington really wanted to help miners, ensuring we have health care seems like a no-brainer. But Congress may ignore the policies that would improve our lives. In December, the government nearly shut down over disagreements about funding our health care. As we inch closer to the end of this month, our future is in danger again.

If Congress doesn’t act by April 28, I — and thousands of other miners — will be left without health care or pensions. Miners like me knew the risks of our profession, but we were counting on being taken care of in exchange for all our years of work.

The coal industry and the government has pulled the rug out from under us.

Now, it’s Congress’s responsibility to step up and keep the promise that was made to me and thousands of others.

Chuck Nelson is a former coal miner from Sylvester, W.Va., a member of United Mine Workers, chairman of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and vice president of Keepers of the Mountains Foundation.