42 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, March 17, 2017
READERS WRITE
Trumpcare helps wealthy, hurts all else
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n “Face the Nation” (3-12-17), Congressman Paul Ryan, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. claimed that, when choosing a health insurance plan, the current, proposed American Health Care Act is designed to give taxpayers, “more freedom, more choices, more markets, better access” On “Meet the Press” (3-12-17), Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price claimed that, regarding the proposed AHCA, taxpayers will, “have choices that they can select the kind of coverage that they want for themselves and for their family, not (what) the government forces them to buy.” Well, a quick reading of the actual American Health Care Act reveals the proposed AHCA will give taxpayers access with choices, but, at substantially higher costs than what most are paying for health insurance premiums now. Having “access” and “choices” means nothing if you cannot pay for the desired health insurance plan you want and to which you can have access. Having access to something does not mean you can pay for the something to which you have access. Words can be tricky little devils. Remember: The devil is in the details. The AHCA seems to push for taxpayers to use more of their own dollars to pay for their own health care services and, not for them to get payments from health insurance coverage.
Wording in the proposed AHCA seems to encourage taxpayers to contribute more dollars to health flexible spending accounts (dollars from taxpayers’ own pockets…not from insurers’ pockets, Pages 85-86, 121), offers mini- tax credits for taxpayers to apply against massive, out-of-pocket health insurance premiums, a 30 percent premium penalty to be paid to health insurers and, health insurance companies’ profits if one doesn’t keep paying health insurance premiums, and other discouraging tidbits, such as: Pages 46-47 — “Reducing the cost for providing health insurance coverage in the individual market and small group market, as such markets are defined by the State, to individuals who have, or are projected to have, a high rate of utilization of health services (as measured by cost).” In other words, the sicker you are, the higher your health insurance premiums will be. This is better than Obamacare? Pages 62-63 — “Encouraging continuous health insurance coverage…(a) Penalty applied equal to 30 percent of the monthly premium rate.” Pages 65-66 — “Sec. 135. Change in Permissible Age Variation in Health Insurance Rates.” Higher health insurance premiums rates for older people? Page 68 — “Repeal of Tanning Tax”… lessens tanning costs by removing a 10 percent tanning tax, thereby, possibly encouraging more young folks to potentially
increase their chances of developing skin cancer through tanning, while, ultimately, profiting the tanning salon industry. Page 78 — A tidy chart appears showing how older, middle class Americans will pay the highest in health insurance premiums, apparently based on age and income at a time in their lives when most have a limited income. Pages 88-89 — “Hospital Insurance. In addition to the tax imposed by the preceding subsection, there is hereby imposed on the income of every individual a tax equal to 1.45 percent of the wages received by such individual with respect to employment.” Page 89 — “Hospital Insurance. In addition to the tax imposed in the preceding subsection, there shall be imposed for each taxable year, on the self-employment income of every individual, a tax equal to 2.9 percent of the self-employment income for such taxable year.” Pages 89-91 — Sec._15. “Refundable Tax Credit for Health Insurance Coverage” described as between $2,000 - $4,000. This would be a mere pittance of a credit when applied to a health insurance plan that may cost upward of $20,000- $25,000 per year, leaving taxpayers with tremendous out-of-pocket costs, especially, older Americans with significant medical issues. Page 100 — “Married couples must file joint return. If the taxpayer is married at the close of the taxable year, no credit shall be allowed under this section to such taxpayer
unless such taxpayer and the taxpayer’s spouse file a joint return for such taxable year.” Seemingly, this clause would discourage married couples from filing their income taxes as, ‘married filing separately.’ I urge every taxpayer to read the actual, proposed AHCA for himself to see what the act really says as some Congressman try to shove it through Congress for quick passage. Only after reading the proposed AHCA for himself can a taxpayer draw reasonable conclusions as to what is being passed off as offering more “access” and more “choices” regarding health plans. One can have “access” and “choices” to buying a castle….but, one may not have enough money to buy that castle. At present, the group proposing the AHCA has not presented any definitive costs for its implementation. From a cursory reading of the proposed AHCA, it appears to me that the only folks who will benefit from this act will be the wealthiest people, health insurance companies, and large corporations not the middle class or the poor. I urge every taxpayer to call his congressman and express opinions about the AHCA as written. Now, more than ever, caveat emptor — let the buyer beware. Kathy Rittel East Williston
Trump plays Robin Hood in reverse
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here are a number of things happening these days about which I wish to make my voice heard. Hopefully I will chose my words and make my points taking up as little space as possible. The first is regarding the age one becomes an adult being able to make proper decisions. The best knowledge I know of based on facts is 21 years of age being when one becomes a mature adult. There are many instances of what is happening to those as young as 16. The raising of the age for procuring tobacco to age 21 is the realization that at that age one may only then make proper decisions. The second is with Trump in the White House. Back during the primaries, a number of people realized that Trump was ‘sleeping’ with Putin. Recently, though it is being denied, there is much evidence of our government officials having improper communication with Russian diplomats. The last I saw was about petroleum from which I deduce that Trump as Our President would be profiting tremendously. We now have the situation with the attempt being made to destroy everything our country and government represents. As we have witnessed, Trump’s hatred and racism runs so deep that he couldn’t
wait for the opportunity to wipe out the Affordable Care Act. The same has been true for many Republicans in Congress. This Act was working well until the insurance companies’ greed began ruining it. Trump is the ‘Hood Robbin’ the poor to give to the rich. It is clear that he and they have no qualms about bankrupting The People so that they can have more billions. We The People must stand firm! Perhaps the time will come when that judge can say: “Guilty as charged! Take him away!” Let him wallow in his gruel. Third is that once our southeastern states produced so much fabric and textiles. Cotton ad flax are still grown in that area. This weaving is gone now. Are these people so helpless? There have to be many still living who worked in weaving and sewing. Surely there are still those who could find a loom or two or build them if necessary and get into production locally. Surely there are those who could at least produce simple items such as bed sheets, table cloths and napkins, etc. to sell locally and keep the money in the community: a local economy without the shipping overseas and back expenses and resulting pollution. Are these seemingly helpless people those who responded to Trump’s “Make
America great again?” In reality, it would not result in their benefit that he spoke those words. Fourth is tampering with our First Amendment. There is no need to repeat that we must preserve our freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Fifth: Somewhat on the lighter side are those second rate crossword puzzles. As an example a clue “Big fat bull” is given and the answer has to be three letters. One wonders what could it mean. Their answer is bfb. They just make the stuff up. Are we supposed to be like kiddie school and think it is funny? Sometimes the clue calls for a noun and the answer is a verb and you name it. They need to study grammar. There are the Premier Crosswords by Frank A. Longo that are virtually error free. They always have a theme or sometimes a riddle; quite intelligent. I can’t imagine how he creates one of those every week. I heard it said once by someone in the music business that a well known song writer had a crew in the ‘back room’ that wrote the songs. Music for hire is the term. Perhaps that is how Mr. Longo gets it done. After this songwriter retired I never heard anything new from him. Perhaps what I heard was true.
Six: While on the subject of grammar, we (in English) have the popular expression gismo (or gizmo). We have the word form socialism and the Spanish equivalent is socialismo. The proper ending for this expression in English would be gism but everyone likes gizmo. Seven: I notice that the streets in Garden City say 2 hour parking and in Williston Park it is one hour. That is enough time to have lunch in the Williston Townhouse Diner. In front of the Williston Park Post Office are three 15-minute parking spaces and a sign saying additional parking in back. In Mineola every nook and cranny has a parking meter. In front of the Mineola Post Office one may stop only to put something into the outdoor mailboxes. If one has to go inside to get a stamp, that is illegal. On the east side are seven parking spaces in a lot with no signs. One day six spaces were full and there were customers inside. Out of curiosity I watched as those customers left. Not one of them went to one of those cars. I wonder if the employees park there instead of behind the building (where a sign says postal vehicles only) or if those spaces are being rented out ‘ on the side.’ Charles Samek Mineola