Push hard for competitive voting districts
The July 23 article “Story Behind Monroeville’s 3-waySplit Political Identity” illuminates the mounting public frustration with severely biased gerrymandering in Pennsylvania’s legislative and congressional voting districts. Increasingly, citizens of all political stripes are pushing for an end to practices that have been used by both parties to perpetuate power and protect incumbents, often at the expense of voter preferences.
Legislation proposed by state Sen. Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, to fix the problem is a drop in the bucket. It calls for creation of a bipartisan commission of independent citizens to draw only congressional lines, but preserves the unacceptable status quo of partisan gerrymandering that afflicts state House and Senate districts. In the 2016 general election, 13 of Pennsylvania’s 25 Senate races and 97 of 203 House races had no challenger from the other major party. Many legislators face meaningful competition only in the primaries, usually driving them toward the fringes of their parties and thwarting opportunities for needed compromise to solve a raft of problems in the commonwealth.
The need for voting reform before the 2020 election, when redistricting next takes place, is increasingly paramount. Pennsylvania Senate Bill 22 and a companion bill, House Bill 722, would put an independent citizens commission in charge of both state legislative and congressional redistricting.
These two bills are pending before the Senate State Government Committee and the House State Government Committee, which have been skittish about holding public hearings on this pressing issue. We need to reform the redistricting rules as quickly as possible to ensure competitive elections that keep our lawmakers accountable. MICHAEL WEINSTEIN
Squirrel Hill
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able to negotiate with the doctor (although not as low as Medicare). Between Medicare and the reduced payments that doctors accord to private insurers, it is possible for doctors to be adequately and fairly paid for their work and expertise.
And the person who didn’t have insurance because he couldn’t pay for it? He would have been on the hook for $1,200 with possible disastrous consequences to his personal finances. Or more likely, he would never have had the colonoscopy at all, leaving us all open to paying for his potential future treatment for colon cancer.
I am a retired French teacher. In 1967-68, I spent a year in France teaching English conversation in a French high school. Because the French educational system is nationalized (like their health care), I was considered an employee of the government with all of the benefits, including health care. The French may pay more taxes than Americans (and not outrageously more), but they are glad to do it for the many benefits they receive from it.
If some of you are now screaming socialism, you are mistaken. I would call it a humanitarian system that puts the welfare of all its citizens before misguided political ideologies. The problems in the U.S. system are many. For-profit insurance companies have to keep rates high and make money for their bottom line and stockholders. So does big pharma, which price-gouges (the recent brouhaha with Mylan and the EpiPen is a good example). Enormously expensive ER visits take the place of regular health care treatment for those who can’t afford primary insurance, etc.
Ah, but that’s the American system, isn’t it? That system is wasteful and dysfunctional and needs to change. The irony is that we already have a single-payer system that works quite well. It’s called Medicare. We just need to expand it to everyone. PHILOMENA BRAMS
Whitehall
When are the American people going to get tired of all theatrics of the president and see him start getting things done as he promised?
“You’re fired” worked well on the TV show, but it is not what the American people want to hear every week for someone he has appointed to his administration. ESTHER WALLER Hazelwood