Study Medicaid buy-in option
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” — Benjamin Franklin.
I am writing about a Colorado bill that was killed last session. House Bill 1384 “Study Health Care Coverage Options” was a bill that would require the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) to conduct a study that would explore “the feasibility of implementing a medicaid buy-in option” and report the results to designated General Assembly committees.
As a nurse who constantly deals with families struggling to make ends meet in the wake of a hospitalization, I am inspired to write to my local legislators urging them to consider investing more time and resources into research that would provide this state with a better plan for the future of our health care system.
I am asking that my fellow Coloradans do the same. Letap stop trying to throw band aids on a broken system, and find out what will really work for Colorado.
Shondra Black, Littleton
Immigration: We can’t afford it
Re: “Tancredo’s immigration policy is wrong for America,” Aug. 22 letter to the editor
Jordan Bruneau cites the businesses who are desperate for low-skilled employees as proof of our need for immigration. What if those businesses instead paid a decent wage?
Immigration is the elephant in the room no one wants to address when we complain about climate change and the environment. Immigration, legal and illegal, has caused 80 percent of our population increase since the 1950s. More people consume more resources.
Economics 101 tells us that too many people chasing too few low-wage jobs will keep wages low. The only way we keep up the illusion of “progress” is to keep immigration levels high and minimum wages low; this is a modern form of slave labor and it makes life vastly better for those of us who earn decent wages.
The American promise of upward mobility is now largely a myth. No matter how hard you work, no matter your ethnicity, if you’re making minimum wage, your chances of ever earning a decent wage are slim to none.
It is the utter lack of hope that fuels the rage that elected Donald Trump. I challenge all of my liberal colleagues to embrace the reality of the slave wages and the cost to our environment created by immigration. We simply can’t afford it.
Michael McNeil, Mead
EPA estimates seem odd
Re: “More Americans will die under rollback, EPA says,” Aug. 22 news story
One thing struck me as odd with the Clean Power Plan debate. One argument is that it will have little effect on the coal industry since coal plants will continue to be replaced due to very cheap low-carbon natural gas/renewables and state mandates.
Another key criticism is that it will cause 1,400 premature deaths per year. These seem contradictory since if there is little change from Obama’s plan in the power-mix then how will so many deaths result.
One answer is that the fatality estimate is within the margin of error of this projection. There are about 2.6 million deaths per year in this country. So the EPA is projecting a 0.05 percent increase due to this new plan. To the non-expert this seems a gross over-reach in its accuracy to predict such a small fatality change based on what may or may not happen in say 2050 even if a vast majority of deaths are from normal causes.
In addition much caution should be exercised with these models since they are based on a number of assumptions that can be skewed (on purpose or unconsciously to please the boss) to give a desired results.
Bill Turner, Aurora
To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.
