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The Portland Tribune
Thursday, April 11, 2013
INSIGHT
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Seniors can’t afford Medicare Advantage cuts
T
he federal Medicare
agency is planning
new cuts to Medicare
Advantage.
The advantage program suf-
fered major cuts under the Af-
fordable Healthcare Act and
now it faces more. These cuts
will have drastic effects on se-
nior citizens like myself.
Many seniors rely on Medi-
care Advantage programs to
provide quality, affordable
health care with low premi-
ums, capped out-of-pocket ex-
penses, and extended benefits.
We need our elected officials to
act quickly on the 45-day notice
and say “no” to additional cuts
to Medicare Advantage.
My husband is insured by
Providence Medicare Advan-
tage and is very satisfied with
his plan. Doctor visits, routine
testing and prescription medi-
cations are all covered. His vi-
sion, dental, and hearing bene-
fits are paid for as well.
He pays very little out of
pocket.
I have had my struggles with
getting the care I feel I need,
but my Medicare Advantage
plan has still been beneficial to
me. If further cuts are made to
the Medicare Advantage pro-
gram, I fear that our premiums
and co-pays will increase and
our extended benefits may be
eliminated altogether.
Financially, times are tough
for us. Like most seniors, we
simply cannot afford these
cuts.
These quality plans provided
through Medicare Advantage
must be preserved. We have
suffered enough with the exist-
ing cuts to our Medicare Ad-
vantage plan, and I don’t know
that we can withstand more.
I call on our representative
in Washington to tell the Medi-
care agency “no more cuts.”
Jerry Jeffs
Southwest Portland
State agency should
block coal permits
After the Oregon Depart-
ment of State Lands extended
the deadline for granting or de-
nying Morrow Pacific’s permit
to export coal to China last
week, the company’s spokes-
woman was quoted as saying,
“We’ve stressed time and again
that every commodity should
be treated the same.”
Powder River Basin coal is
not a commodity like milk or
wheat. It is flammable, explo-
sive and extremely brittle once
it is shoveled out of the ground
and loaded into coal cars for its
long dusty ride. Once coal dust
is breathed into a child’s lung,
it will stay there for the rest of
that child’s life.
This commodity has the po-
tential to contaminate our wa-
ter, kill salmon, blight sustain-
able industries and blacken the
quality of life Oregon is known
for worldwide.
DSL was right to delay their
permit. Hopefully, on Sept. 1,
they will deny it.
Dennis Williams
Southeast Portland
Solar power could
brighten Oregon
As a recent arrival from Cali-
fornia, I always thought of Ore-
gon as an environmental lead-
er. And in so many ways it al-
ready is.
But when it comes to solar
power, we’re far behind. In fact,
right now we get less than 1
percent of our energy from the
sun.
Luckily, this spring our state
legislators have the opportuni-
ty to put us in front on this is-
sue. By passing strong solar
policies, leaders in Salem can
re-power our state with pollu-
tion-free energy from the sun
that never runs out and is only
going to get cheaper.
I urge leaders in Salem to
stand up for our health and en-
vironment, and make Oregon a
leader on solar power.
Ibolya Mandoki
Southeast Portland
Pay attention to
health plan changes
I am a licensed health broker
and have been following closely
the activities of Cover Oregon,
which is the private company
that will run the Oregon Ex-
change. I am shocked that
more Oregonians are not pay-
ing attention to what is hap-
pening to individual health
plans in Oregon.
The Oregon Insurance Divi-
sion, under the directive of
Cover Oregon, issued a bulle-
tin on Feb. 22, 2013, (Bulletin
2013-1) saying that all individ-
ual plans in the state must be
terminated no later than
3/31/13.
So much for “If you like your
plan, you can keep it.”
Monica Cox
West Linn
Hey skateboarders:
Put a reflector on it
I think it would be beneficial
and possibly life-saving for
skateboarders and bicycle rid-
ers to use reflectors or lights.
At night, when coming up be-
hind one of the forementioned,
if they don’t have any reflec-
tors or lights they are very
hard to spot.
I would like to see some sort
of safety feature added to
them — before I either hit or
run over someone — because
doing it after an accident is
much too late.
Ron Franklin
St. Helens
Guns can threaten
others’ rights
In the debate today about
gun violence with AR-15 type
assault weapons and extend-
ed-clip handguns, no one is
talking about everyone’s “un-
alienable rights (to) ... life, lib-
erty and the pursuit of happi-
ness.”
When someone’s freedom to
own and use a gun threatens
others’ “life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness,” why is
that not illegal? John Stuart
Mill, in his book, “On Liberty,”
stated that the actions of indi-
viduals should be limited to
prevent harm to other individ-
uals, which he called the
“harm principle.”
When the Newtown, Conn.,
children died, the students in
Blacksburg, Va., were shot, the
moviegoers in Aurora, Colo.,
killed and the shoppers at
Clackamas Town Center per-
ished all at the hands of AR-15
assault rifles and extended-
clip handguns, were not their
rights harmed?Why is this so
hard to understand and pre-
vent?
Ted Ricks
Lake Oswego
Use settlement
for healthy kids
After decades of deceiving
the public about the dangers of
tobacco use, the Tobacco Mas-
ter Settlement Agreement was
signed in 1998.
This landmark legislation
required tobacco companies to
pay states millions of dollars to
compensate for tobacco-relat-
ed health care costs and to ad-
vance the public health; Ore-
gon alone received $120 mil-
lion.
However, these funds have
never been used for public
health purposes, but instead
have been directed to fill bud-
get gaps year after year. This
year we have a tremendous op-
portunity to redirect a portion
of the TMSA funds ($120 mil-
lion for the 2013-15 biennium)
to their original purpose.
The American Heart Associ-
ation and other health care ad-
vocacy organizations have
proposed allocating these
funds to community care orga-
nizations at the heart of Ore-
gon’s health care transforma-
tion: children’s health and
wellness programs and Ore-
gon’s Tobacco Prevention and
Education Program, which
helps smokers quit and keeps
youths from starting.
As an Oregonian and a
granddaughter who lost her
grandmother to a smoking-re-
lated death, as a friend who re-
cently lost a dear friend to
lung cancer, and a woman who
tried smoking and fortunately
stopped, I know that with to-
bacco prevention programs,
we can save lives. I feel that we
must capitalize on this oppor-
tunity to direct the funds to
their original purpose. We
must help all Oregonians live a
healthy life, especially our
kids.
Christine Wooley
Volunteer, American Heart
Association
Northwest Portland
CROSSWORD
by Eugene Shaffer
CRYPTOQUIP
Portland
Tribune
Puzzles
SOLUTIONS
Cryptoquip solution:
YOU MUST ADMIT
THAT THE GUYWHO
INVENTED THE VERY
FIRST MOTOR HAD
AN AWFUL LOT OF
ENGINE-UITY.
Answer:
READERS’
LETTERS
Medical services
for some senior
citizens could be
cut if proposed
Medicare
Advantage
reductions are
adopted. A letter
writer says the
possible cuts
would force
seniors to make
tough choices
about their
health care.
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