Commonsense and leadership prevail

Finally, commonsense and leadership, two words rarely used when it comes to public officials, have come to the forefront. I commend Rep. Jay Costa and Attorney General Josh Shapiro for their efforts to do something about the Highmark and UPMC agreement, which is scheduled to end June 30 (Feb. 7, “Pa. Lawmaker seeks Co-Sponsors for ‘Any Willing Insurer’ Legislation to Push Highmark, UPMC Together”).

Mr. Costa is trying to sponsor a bill that “would require UPMC and Highmark to either contract with each other for services or enter mandatory arbitration.” Then, Mr. Shapiro filed a lawsuit against UPMC to basically stop the deadline from occurring, and allow people the right to choose and keep their doctors, regardless of their insurer (Feb. 8, “State Takes UPMC to Court”).

I am hoping that either or both of these endeavors is successful. Every American has the right to proper health care and to the doctors they want to see. I have always believed that there are two things you don’t mess with: One is a person’s livelihood and the second is his health care. Let’s hope that commonsense finally wins out in this dispute.

JOEL VANUCCI

Beechview Then, allow the people and the market to decide which companies become viable. That is the way this society behaves in a fair manner.

N.A. LIBERTO

Blawnox