Northeast Philadelphia residents sound off on health care, repaving streets and Trinity Church Oxford.
Don’t abandon the sick
I was in a major hospital in Philadelphia three years ago, before Pennsylvania expanded Medicaid. My hospital roommate had come in due to a life-threatening emergency, which turned out to be caused by cancer. A doctor told him he had millions of cancer cells in his body. The patient had an interview he didn’t understand, which turned out to be for charity care, which was rejected. So after the immediate emergency was relieved, he was released from the hospital with no treatment and no tests — presumably to keep coming back with the next few acute emergencies, until he died.
Instead of abandoning the poor, disabled and sick, what should be done is to build consensus on making the healthcare system more efficient, so that people and governments alike won’t be priced out of it.
But U.S. healthcare worships one god above all: money. That is why prices and scams go up and up, while population health is behind countries that spend half as much. This problem will be hard to fix, because there is no real competition in healthcare, since quality is not transparent. So all financial incentives are to charge more money.
John James
Center City
What’s the hold-up?
It seems to me that in Northeast Philly, they are sure quick enough to strip the streets for paving, but it takes forever to get them repaved.
Better hurry up, streets department, snow’s a coming. As a taxpayer, this sort of thing really gets to me. If you are going to rip it up, pave it right away, not four weeks later. That’s all I have to say.
Joseph T. Walters
Bustleton
Hard to find a good job
Labor, over the past decades, has certainly changed. In earlier years, assembly-line work was a way of life. It did pay necessary bills. Today, clothes and appliances that were made in the United States are made in all parts of the world. Even when you call a place of business, you hear a voice prompt, rather than a human voice. More and more, it takes a master’s degree to get a job interview. Yes, to get a job has become more of a challenge.
It certainly makes you realize why the poor have become poorer and the rich have become richer.
Marie Patton
Fox Chase
What do you think, Boyle?
In response to Brendan Boyle’s Letter to the Editor, “Trade policies hurt us,” published on Sept. 6:
Would like to thank Congressman Brendan Boyle for condemning the travesty that allowed the NE Philly Nabisco plant to close down, causing layoffs that affected many Philadelphia hard-working families, as well as our economy.
However, isn’t there any blame to be placed at our own representatives that allowed this to happen? Sure the evil 1 percent gets richer while the working class gets poorer, blah, blah.
Why can’t our representatives make it advantageous for say someone in the 2 percent bracket to open up a factory, employ people from Philadelphia and make a profit? Rich people like to make more money. They always did and always will.
Why can’t our own city and state legislators alleviate the obstacles in this bureaucracy to make that happen?
How do you feel about Mayor Kenney’s ridiculous soda tax, congressman? I sort of consider that a litmus test on whether our representative really cares about working families.
Steve Madden
Mayfair
Solomon is a wise man
I would like to take a moment to thank our state representative, Jared Solomon, for working so hard for the preservation of the former Police Athletic League center at Trinity Oxford Church. What our community needs is more places of enrichment, especially for our youth. Not another gas station.
It’s wonderful to have a representative who truly listens to his constituents and acts for the betterment of our community. Not just with the former PAL building, but other things he’s done as well such as bringing the Philadelphia Orchestra and Night Market to the Northeast and doing everything in his power to show our neighborhood in a positive light.
Thank you so much, Rep. Solomon.
Leann Freer
Mayfair
