Sounding off: Affordable Care Act saves lives

I am the mother of two children with special needs, one much more significant than the other. My daughter has multiple disabilities that will be lifelong and are life-threatening. Her care is costly. Her needs are great. She will need care all of her life, and her medical expenses will surely increase. The Affordable Care Act is crucial to people like her. Without it, her life is literally put at risk.

The ACA puts forth protections that she would not otherwise have. Unless the law says you must give her coverage, she will not be offered coverage. She needs the ACA to live the best life she can live. She was born with multiple pre-existing conditions. These are of no fault of her own, nor mine.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the ACA’s individual mandate is unconstitutional, which means the Trump administration could be one step closer to repealing the ACA. A repeal will negatively affect my child and many, many just like her.

Please know that 20 million Americans have been able to obtain health coverage because of the ACA and 135 million receive protections for preexisting conditions through the law.

We need to hold the Trump administration and our elected officials accountable because, without the ACA, millions of people, like my beautiful daughter, could lose their health care with no fault of their own.

Toni Danchik, Bethel Park

Organ donation needs more awareness

Thank you for your recent editorial concerning the need for registration of organ donors (“Donation is a gift of Life.” ) This is such an important topic, one that is rarely covered by most of the local media. The news outlets are obsessed with politics, sports and celebrities and not with the issues that affect our daily lives.

I continue to be surprised that relatively few people register as organ donors, considering the urgent need for transplants. I first registered several decades ago and remain registered today. The process is very easy and certainly is worth the effort to save another’s life.

I have experienced kidney failure and have been on dialysis for about five years. The procedure takes four hours, three times every week. I am currently on the wait list for a transplant at UPMC, and I need to be prepared all the time for “the call.”

I am also hopeful that someone might consider a live donation, giving up one kidney. This can be done directly if there is a

match or by paired exchange if there is no match.

Roy C. Myers, Hempfield

Obama had hand in our economic recovery

Rather than using monetary amounts, a letter-writer recently tried comparing increases in our national debt by using percentages (“National debt under Trump, Obama”). He stated that during the Obama years, the compounded rate of increase of the national debt was 8.72% compared to 5.09% under President Trump. Not mentioned was that during Obama’s two terms, the average yearly budget was less than Trump’s expenditures. It is then only fair we use percentages rather than actual numbers for other illustrations.

When President Obama took office Jan. 20, 2009, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 7,949. When Trump took office Jan. 20, 2017, it was 19,732. As I write this on Jan. 6, the Dow Jones is at 28,703. That means that during the Obama years, the stock market went up 148.2% compared to 45.5% under Trump. Anybody with a 401(k) would rather have a 148.2% gain.

The country was going through a recession when Obama took office. The unemployment rate peaked a few months later at 10% in October 2009. When Obama’s presidency ended, the unemployment rate was at 4.7%. The rate was at 3.5% in November 2019. Obama reduced the unemployment rate 53%. Trump has reduced it 25.5%.

This economic recovery has been a continuation of what took place many years ago. I don’t understand why there was a need to try making Obama look bad when he helped turn things around to what they are today. The percentages prove this fact.

Robin L. Rosewicz, Lower Burrell

March to end property tax

At 8 a.m. Feb. 3, the Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition (PTCC), consisting of Pennsylvania residents, will hold a march at the steps of the capitol in Harrisburg to urge legislators to begin the process of reforming the archaic unfair method of funding schools. A number of legislators supporting school tax reform will speak.

The current tax continues to cause the loss of homes to sheriff’s sale, especially for seniors and other fixed-income property owners who are unable to pay the tax: Many people who have lived in their homes, which are paid for, for years have to pay large sums of money, sometimes in the thousands.

The drive to Harrisburg takes just a few hours. The number of property owners planning to attend the march is well over 400. Please consider making the drive and bringing friends and family to show support for reforming the method of funding schools and for the elimination of the school tax.

For updates on the march, visit PTCC on Facebook or ptcc.us. There you can read House/Senate Bill 76, the Property Tax Independence Act, which details the preferred method of funding the school system while eliminating the school tax on property owners.

Local TV and radio stations are urged to send attendees to the march also.

This march is unprecedented and is the culmination of years of hard work, planning and dedication by many people, including legislators, in order to achieve the attention required to move forward with the initiation of change in Harrisburg.

John Lambert, West Deer

Our incivility and disunity

Some may believe the causes of the anger, distrust and infighting experienced in America today are solely the result of social media or some other singular cause. I propose that what we are experiencing (regardless of political persuasion) involves a multifaceted, long-term and complex set of circumstances. The question may be whether these circumstances are the result of pure chance, natural evolution or some carefully orchestrated plot by a mysterious far left or far right conspiracy.

Step 1: Destroy, downplay or diminish the family, parental roles and authority. Blur the roles of men and women by trying to make them interchangeable in every regard. (See much of today’s TV and movies.)

Step 2: Eliminate common sense as a means to solve problems or make decisions. Force family/personal decisions into the hands of some outside “higher authority” who should have no business in a family’s affairs.

Step 3: Allow different rules for every individual in every circumstance, thus making no one accountable for their actions.

Finally, blur the lines between right and wrong. If these are not clearly defined, then there can be no rule-breakers. Everyone gets a pass, regardless of their actions — and then add all other exemptions/excuses we’ve created for not following society’s rules.

The role of TV, internet and other media, schools, and other social engineers cannot be minimized in this decline of civility and cultural unity. But we need to understand there are much more complex circumstances in play.

Tim Kaczmarek, Natrona Heights

Scheme behind impeachment’s pace

The Senate trial on the two articles of impeachment against President Trump has begun, some 34 days after the House vote. There is a lot of clamor from the left for witnesses and documents, the stated purpose of which is to present even more evidence than what is already characterized by them as “overwhelming,” and upon which the impeachment articles were based.

What was a “speed matters” pace by the Democrats inexplicably slowed to a crawl since the House voted to impeach in December.

Here is one thought for this change in the left’s demeanor: It’s expected that adding witnesses and documents to the Senate trial would extend it at least six weeks, taking it into March at the earliest. There’s little doubt that Democratic leadership in Congress exemplifies the “establishment” side of the party, the so-called “moderate left.” And who’s their “daddy”? It’s Joe Biden.

Consider that if the Senate trial is not concluded by March 10, no less than 24 states will have held their primaries to elect the Democratic candidate for president.

So, who do you think will have a significant advantage of out-campaigning in those jurisdictions while most of his competition will be trying to no avail to dislodge Trump from his presidency?

Ken Mowl, Hempfield

Real ID experience was no horror story

After reading about Real ID horror stories, my wife and I were ecstatic to find how easy it was to obtain our Real ID Pennsylvania driver’s licenses with the required gold star.

We took our information to the New Kensington Driver License Center: birth certificates with raised seals (We had new ones made in 1998, and they were acceptable.); our current, unexpired Pennsylvania driver’s licenses along with our Pennsylvania vehicle registration card; one copy of a home utility bill; a certified marriage license certificate, issued by the county in which we were married (a certificate from a church won’t work); and our Social Security cards that carried the same names as on our birth certificates (except for the surname change of my wife via marriage, which is why the certified marriage license certificate is required).

We waited less than five minutes at the center, and registration took less than seven minutes. The wait for the camera card photo with the Real ID gold star on it took about another seven minutes. The new licenses arrived by mail about five days after our visit. What great service!

We want to compliment the staff at the New Kensington Driver License Center. They fowere friendly, professional and competent, and made the process simple.

We remind readers that after Oct. 1, 2020, Pennsylvania residents without a Real ID photo card or gold star driver’s license can’t fly on any airline or enter any federal building. Get it done. It’s as easy as 1-2-3.

Don Favero, Leechburg