The GOP health bill is no cause for celebration

President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are now celebrating their vote against the health of the American public. They plan to provide an extra $8 billion to a pot of $115 billion for states to use for high-risk pools in aid of people with pre-existing conditions, while taking away more than $800 billion from Medicaid.

The “savings” of $800 billion will go almost entirely to tax breaks for the wealthy. That’s the next step as already indicated by the president.

It is possible that the people of Pennsylvania will continue to get insurance support for preexisting conditions, but for that to happen, our taxes will have to be raised. That means that the wealthy will get huge tax breaks while the rest of us will get large tax increases or poor health care.

It continues to be true that “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” It doesn’t have to be that way, and if our Republican Congress had any degree of morality, at least the cause of this increasing wealth gap wouldn’t be health care.

Our only hope is that the Senate doesn’t go along with this disgusting bill. Let Sens. Pat Toomey and Bob Casey know what you think! ROBERT J. REILAND

O’Hara

We welcome your opinion

In response to the article “House Narrowly Votes to Erase Much of Obama’s Health Care Law” ( May 4 post-gazette. I address my remarks to U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, as well as my fellow constituents in his district. Here are the facts:

• The Congressional Budget Office report on this draconian elimination of health care benefits is not in, but it is expected that more than 24 million Americans would lose health insurance.

• The Center for American Progress cites a shortfall in funding of $192 billion, which dwarfs the paltry $8 billion thrown in at the last minute to appease the crocodile tears of red-state Republicans who rightly fear the impact of rollbacks (at state whim) in mandated coverage for pre-existing conditions.

• The Center for American Progress further estimates increases in premiums for 40year-old consumers with preexisting conditions by as much as $142,000 (metastatic cancer).

• The greatest harm will come to the very people who voted for the current president, especially in states like West Virginia, Mississippi and Kentucky (Kaiser Family Foundation).

So, Rep. Murphy, how can you possibly justify your “yes” vote? Is it about the massive tax cut that is hidden in the bill, which will benefit only those at the very top of the earnings heap?

To my fellow constituents in the representative’s district: Will you join me in doing all that it takes to ensure that this “representative” is summarily and involuntarily retired in November 2018? JAN HOYT Peters

Some of us are concerned about the size of the national debt no matter who is in power.

The recent budget deal, however, adds $12.5 billion more to military spending with the possibility of an additional $2.5 billion. It contains no significant cuts. Thus we will see another substantial budget deficit.

The size of the deficit actually shrank from 2011 to 2015 under President Barack Obama, yet you would never get that impression from the Republicans who held this so fiercely against him.

Will they still be speaking up now that Donald Trump holds the presidency? BILL KOWNACKI

Dormont