Featured Commentary category, Page 106
Ron Klink: Drug costs bill a bad means to a bad end
What happens in a world where medical innovations like the vaccines that are defeating the coronavirus are no longer possible? That could be the result of a ham-handed effort to make America an “also-ran” country in the global pharmaceutical business. Some lawmakers are trying to revive the Lower Drug Costs...
Cynthia Fisher: Patients should know actual, not estimated, prices
Beginning this year with the implementation of a new Health and Human Services rule, American consumers won the right, upheld by a U.S. Court of Appeals, to access real hospital prices. The new rule requires hospitals to post their actual prices, including their discounted cash and secret negotiated rates. Armed...
Sally Pipes: Biden’s health care agenda entrenches a status quo that isn’t working
Health care reform is back on the agenda in Washington. At the end of January, President Biden signed two executive orders that aim to make it easier for people to sign up for coverage. On Saturday, the House passed a $1.9 trillion covid-19 relief package that includes billions in new...
Al Frazier and Jeffrey Shook: Time to talk about UPMC wages
There is no single organization that is more intertwined with our state’s health and well-being than UPMC. It is the largest health care provider, the biggest landowner, the largest employer and the largest tax-exempt charity in Pennsylvania. UPMC loves talking about its “life-changing” medicine, but it is time to talk...
Noe Ortega: Investing in students is good for Pa.’s economy
Nellie Bly was one of the most influential American journalists. As an intrepid young reporter who wanted to make a difference in the world, Bly inspired changes to the nation’s mental health care system. In 1887, Bly went undercover to investigate the conditions at Blackwell’s Island Asylum in New York....
Michael Butler: Don’t be that surprised that Allegheny County has clean air
Did you hear the news? Allegheny County has met all federal air quality standards for the first time. The Allegheny County Health Department termed the late January achievement a historic milestone in its efforts to curb air pollution. Actually, despite the region’s heavy energy production, Western Pennsylvania and the entire...
Stephen Segal: Take it from a millionaire, a $15 minimum wage is good for Pa. businesses
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives voted to approve the American Rescue Plan, a major step toward providing Americans the relief they desperately need and deserve. As President Biden’s relief package moves to the Senate floor, tense negotiations still are taking place on key provisions included in the plan. Despite...
Chris Baxter: Why Spotlight PA is spending a year investigating Pennsylvania’s redistricting process
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and WITF Public Media. In 2021, a handful of politicians will wield power over one of the most consequential and overlooked aspects of our democracy: redrawing Pennsylvania’s political districts. They can...
James Greenwood: American Rescue Plan offers helping hand to struggling Americans
Poverty in America is defined for a family of four as less than $70 per day. That’s about $2,100 a month for food, rent, utilities, transportation, clothing and everything else. The good news is that between 2015 and 2020, the poverty rate in America gradually declined to 10.5%, the lowest...
Mark Schwartz: Remembering Rabbi Abraham Twerski — recounting just one miraculous deed
I was a young Pittsburgh lawyer in the early 1980s, over my head in most things, let alone a no-win criminal case. For God knows what reason, a young man had been referred to me, facing a three-year mandatory minimum jail sentence for vehicular homicide while drunk. When I eventually...
Steven Reske: Bruce Castor needs lesson on the First Amendment
Pennsylvania’s Bruce Castor choked on the First Amendment. Unfortunately, while his performance was nearly universally panned, no critics mentioned one jarring error. His gaffe occurred in the very first moments of his opening salvo and was on an issue foundational to President Trump’s defense. While at first blush his factual...
Cal Thomas: The Rush Limbaugh I knew
The man who picked me up at an airport too many years ago to recall the date asked if I had ever heard of a guy named Rush Limbaugh. When I said I had not, he turned on the car radio and said, “listen.” After 15 minutes I was hooked....
Christopher Welch: Veterans’ role in U.S. economic rebound
With the dawn of a new year comes a fresh start. This is especially true for the servicemen and women returning from active duty. Approximately 2,500 troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have returned home. These veterans will be returning to a country that looks very different than the...
Matthew Brouillette: It’s time to do right by kids
“Schools that teach” sounded great as Gov. Tom Wolf’s campaign slogan in 2014 and 2018. But two years into Wolf’s second term, many parents are just wishing for “schools that open.” About 40% of school districts across Pennsylvania aren’t physically open for businesses. So it’s hardly surprising that from fall...
Dr. Reed Tuckson and Jim Weiss: Convincing people to take covid-19 vaccine
The determination on the face of intensive care unit nurse Sandra Lindsay as she got one of the first covid-19 vaccine shots was unforgettable. And what she said about it summed up the task for all of us: “We’re in a pandemic, so we all need to do our part.”...
Ronald Fraser: How crime victims keep offenders behind bars
Victim’s testimony, a time-honored part of the American criminal prosecution process, has sent thousands of Pennsylvania offenders to prison. But justice is not advanced when, years later, crime victims are called again to give emotionally charged encores, moments before parole panel members decide whether or not to release their offenders...
Frederick Winter: Forgive student debt? There’s a better way
Study hard in high school. That and $320,000 (not including living expenses), and four years later you can graduate with a major in gender and sexuality studies from prestigious Ivy League Brown University. As a retired business school professor and dean who spent over 40 years in academics, even I...
CompetePA Coalition: Raising taxes will hurt Pennsylvania’s competitive standing
The following was sent to Gov. Tom Wolf on Feb. 15 by The Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, which manages the CompetePA Coalition. CompetePA is a coalition comprised of statewide and regional business groups, small- and medium-sized businesses, as well as Fortune 500 companies. The coalition, which represents more than...
Five Pennsylvania mayors: Our cities need the American Rescue Plan and we cannot wait
This is from the mayors of five Pennsylvania cities: Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto, Williamsport Mayor Derek Slaughter and Lancaster Mayor Danene Sorace. As mayors of Pennsylvania cities, we witness the human toll the pandemic takes each day it stretches on. We see...
Pitt Med students: Give vaccine priority to smaller practices, pharmacies
We are a group of University of Pittsburgh medical students who are extremely concerned about vaccine distribution in the Pittsburgh community. It has come to our attention that vaccines are being sent only to large institutions such as health systems and retail pharmacies rather than the smaller, independent health practices...
Gene Barr: Pro-growth policies will move Pa.’s economy forward
Pennsylvania is at a crossroads. For nearly a year, the pandemic has forced job creators to adapt to ever-changing situations and tackle numerous challenges related to shutdowns, closure orders, less economic activity and making sure they’re complying with state- and CDC-issued guidelines. While the development of a covid-19 vaccine has...
Mark Pinsley: Urge ‘no’ vote on judicial districting bill
In a hasty process with no public hearings and little deliberation, the Republican-controlled Legislature passed House Bill 38, which amends the state Constitution to radically change the way we choose judges for our state’s three appellate courts. Despite bipartisan opposition and immediate outcry from labor unions, civil rights organizations and...
Nickolas Summa: LGBT Americans deserve federal nondiscrimination protection
As an LGBT-affirming marriage and family therapist in Westmoreland County, I see many people who lack any access to important resources and care. It’s disheartening to know that so many people don’t get the support they need due to discrimination in the place I call home. When I came out...
Eric Falk: Republicans all in for Trump
It is tragic to see that one of the Western world’s heretofore great political parties, the Republican Party, has gone “all in for Trump,” including Pennsylvania’s Republicans. In doing so, it has made a profound moral choice, antithetical to its founding principles. The Republican Party was established on the principle...
Ryan O’Connor: Abuse survivors deserve their day in court
I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Between the ages of 4 and 11, I was molested and sexually abused by two different men at two different times of my childhood. The second man was a Catholic priest from my parish, Our Mother of Sorrows in Johnstown. His name...
