A local health care dilemma

I’m 65 years old, soon to be 66, and am blessed that I do not have a catastrophic or life-threatening illness. My mother, 94, lives with me and she, too, is healthy. But that could change and then we could find ourselves in the same unfortunate situation some people from Western Pennsylvania are currently in with regards to health care

I can literally see Jefferson Hospital from my home, but because of the discord between UPMC and Highmark, we may not be able to receive care at Jefferson Hospital after June 30 or continue to see our current doctors.

I am also at a crossroad in my life with regard to retirement and choosing whether or not to enroll in a Medicare supplemental program. This decision should not be so upsetting, but it is. I find it outrageous that anyone such as myself, who has never been without adequate health insurance, might be forced to make that decision.

When did health care stop being about providing affordable coverage for everyone and the insured’s “freedom of choice” in choosing doctors and hospitals? How long can UPMC and Highmark be permitted to continue this charade of being “nonprofit”?

BERNICE NYLANDER

West Mifflin

What emergency?

“What emergency?” I write as someone who spent her career of 33 years working in greater Pittsburgh with children and families. The goal was always to keep families together in safe and sustainable ways.

The only “emergency” I see at present is the separation and incarceration of thousands of children who belong with parents for the best of reasons — to make better lives. Many of us come from immigrant families, right? Please help in any way you can to end this terrible travesty and its tragic outcomes.

DELSA WHITE

Harmony

Yemen support

The Post-Gazette reported that the U.S. House voted to end U.S. military support for the Saudi attacks on Yemen (Feb. 14, “House Passes Measure to Terminate U.S. Military Involvement in Yemen”). This measure should have passed years ago, but it took the Saudi crown prince’s murder of journalist Jamal Kashoggi to get the attention of our elected leaders.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been mercilessly bombing Yemen and killing and starving hundreds of thousands of Yemeni people because the Saudis are afraid that Iran is getting a foothold in the Arabian peninsula; the U.S. has been complicit in this evil endeavor.

Let us hope that the Senate and the president agree to end military and nonmilitary support for the Saudi regime. The Saudi royal family is determined to maintain power at any cost and will punish Yemen, Qatar and any other country or people it sees as a potential threat.

Our government needs to end all support for this kingdom that is conducting what amounts to a new holocaust. We also need to seek a rapprochement with Iran and bring our troops home. This constant war has been going on since 2001. Eighteen years of war is enough.

JAMES BUKES

Mt. Lebanon

Election collusion

Given the current state of affairs in Washington and in many ways Harrisburg, I wonder what have we done to ourselves. The original intent of the founders was to free us from tyranny, taxation without representation and a ruling elite dictating how our lives would be run. If time travel was possible, the Founding Fathers would not recognize the nation they created.

We have elected a ruling oligarchy that places its own power over the needs of the people, puts the profits of corporations, and themselves, over patriotism, and divides us so they can continue to gain. Ever wonder why things never get done in Washington, even when one party controls all three branches of government? There’s no profit in it. Solving problems would eliminate wedge issues and contribution cash cows.

Collusion? The real election collusion is between the two establishment parties. President Donald Trump is hated by the ruling elites and establishment press because he is not part of the club. Mr. Trump was loved when he was giving money to both parties and pulling in the ratings on his television show. Now he is a danger to the ruling political and media class.

Mr. Trump is a political aberration, thanks in part to the ineptitude of the Republican Party. Had it been as organized as the Democratic Party, Mr. Trump would have gone the way of Bernie Sanders, and we would now have Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton in the White House protecting the status quo. We don’t need to fear the interference of a foreign power in our elections; we need to fear our own ruling oligarchy.

JOHN GREGORY PARKS

McKeesport