Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Opinion & Editorial

by Pat Tucker, Hamilton

In 2001 my husband had a brain aneurism. Major back surgery for severe spinal osteoarthritis followed in 2006. He had private insurance (about $350.00/month with a $5000 deductible). Lots of treatments weren't covered in the plan. Upshot: two years out of seven when his health care cost us more than $15,000/yr.

The only insurance now available to him is a Blue Cross plan that Montana subsidizes. The $10,000 deductible plan still costs $4320/yr. This means we pay $4320 every year for his insurance plus all health care tests and care until costs mount to $10,000. Under the current system, in a few years, the premiums will increase to $600/month or more.

We're hard working, productive members of this community. We believe in personal responsibility: eating well, exercising, getting regular screening tests and paying for health insurance. Ten years ago we never imagined two medical disasters were ahead. Don't bet it won't happen to you

Since I’m a veteran I can and have chosen government health care. I laugh when I see ads scaring people about "government" coming between them and their doctor or not getting to "choose" a doctor. If you think that you can choose your doctor with private health insurance, you haven't looked at your “preferred” provider list. If you think your doctor can order whatever treatment (s)he thinks best, you haven't looked at the procedures your private insurance covers. I'm much happier (and receive better care) with the "government between me and my doctor” than my husband is with a profit hungry insurance company between him and his doctor.

But no one's attempting to take away your "right" to haggle with your insurance company and pay outlandish premiums. We’re simply asking for a government run option for those of us who want it. That's freedom to shop. That's America.

Present health insurance system unsustainable

Dear Editor,

My wife and I don't get health insurance through our employer. We're healthy and pay privately. Our premiums have been increasing 17% per year on average, doubling about every four years. For this we've gotten dwindling coverage and ever increasing deductibles. At no point has our health insurer earned our trust. As healthcare reform is debated I don't trust the health insurance companies to do the right thing. They've caused this disaster we're in now.

Heath insurance for even healthy, modest income folks like us is becoming unaffordable. We need an affordable and competitive option where our hard earned money is spent on reliable insurance and proper healthcare delivery, not pocketed by greedy CEOs.

For this we need a public option similar to Medicare. Medicare, for all its faults, is efficiently run and well-liked. I know because I'm a healthcare provider and I ask my patients for their feedback and opinion.

Right now my wife and I are not one of the uninsured but as premium rates are going we will be in a few years. In 10 years our health insurance will amount to 2/3 of our income! It's simply unsustainable.

My plea to Senator Baucus is to pass reform that includes a competitive public option that's affordable and promotes preventative care. A strong competitor will not hurt the private insurers. It will only make our system stronger and better. We can do this. After all, this is America!

Van P. Keele
Hamilton

Public insurance option a must

Dear Editor,

My three-year-old great grandson, Bodie, has leukemia. It breaks my heart to see him suffering. Despite his daily ups and downs I know he is one of the "lucky ones." Spending a day in a children's cancer center is devastating. Parents worry about their child's care and where they will come up the money to pay for it. Will they lose their house? What about food for their other children? They have spent their retirement savings.

Up until a year before he became ill he was being raised by a single working parent, my granddaughter. In April of 2008 she married a wonderful man who treats Bodie as his own. He is financially well off and Bodie's healthcare needs have been covered by his privately paid insurance.

Prior to her marriage my granddaughter was a responsible parent and had healthcare coverage. The plan she could afford was marginal and in the end would not have covered the medical bills and would have broken her. I shudder to think what would have happened to Bodie and my granddaughter if it wasn't for this generous man and his medical insurance.

Why should we have to end up with marginal plans that cost a king's ransom, or hope to meet the right person and be lucky in life? Now is the time. We have a choice. We can have a public insurance option that is reliable, accessible and affordable. We can all be as "lucky" as Bodie.

Doris Adams
Hamilton

We need health care, not health insurance

Dear Editor,

Max Baucus and President Obama don't get it, do they? We do not want health insurance reform. We do not want health insurance. The insurance companies have been skimming health care dollars for years – for decades – for generations – 30¢ of every health care dollar that goes, not to doctors and hospitals, but to CEOs, stockholders, billing clerks, salesmen and those insurance bureaucrats that are paid to deny coverage. What we need is health care – not health insurance. It is time for the health insurance companies to go!

Mike Thomas
Helena

Negative effects of pesticides

Dear Editor,

I enjoyed Judy Hoy’s letter on pesticides (Star 7/15/09) and it was long overdue. My brother lives next to me. He is spraying for grasshoppers two to four times daily making three to four passes with a heavy spray concoction. I have told him he is making me sick. He told me he did not care and I was not to tell him what to do.

My husband is even developing a cough. My chickens are free range and they, along with the wildlife, are eating the dead grasshoppers.

I fail to see how spraying along my fence line makes a difference! It’s like taking an eyedropper full of water and putting it in the Bitterroot River.

I’m sure others out there are concerned how these chemicals are affecting people, wildlife and our groundwater. How do we protect ourselves?

Ella Buckallew Wothe
Stevensville

In defense of 9-1-1 system and staff

Dear Editor,

Recently, I had two members of the community express their frustration and anger over calling 9-1-1 only to get “the third degree” (their description of the questions the dispatcher had asked them). There are often times I have thought it a perfect opportunity to educate the public in what it is that we do here at 911 in Ravalli County.

First of all, when you call 9-1-1, we verify your name, address and phone number usually in this order: where is your emergency, what is your phone number and what is your name? The reason behind all of this is simply this; should we lose your call and not be able to reach you again, we know there is an emergency at the address given. We may not know what the emergency is, and we may over dispatch resources because of that, but at least we can get someone there.

Secondly, as I am in charge of 9-1-1 operations, I am responsible for making sure that when someone calls 9-1-1, their call comes into the center with a name, address and phone number attached and present on our phone screen. When I go through every call made to the center every couple weeks, I check to see that this has happened with every one of those calls. If it didn’t, and it does happen, I report this to our E9-1-1 services provider, CenturyTel. Currently, there are over 400 residents in Ravalli County who have not complied with county addressing. While we cannot force residents to acquire their county address, it is my responsibility to determine which of those numbers that call us are associated with a non-compliant address. Should they call 9-1-1 and not be able to talk, we may not be able to find them, so it is important that every call be followed up on.

In addition to those questions, we have other questions. The questions we ask are not meant to pry or cause you frustration or alarm. They are simply asked to help us dispatch the appropriate emergency response. There are many, many times that someone will call and say they don’t need lights or sirens, simply because they don’t feel there is a true emergency, only to find that their loved one HAS been injured, or is very ill and the responding ambulance then has to transport them to the hospital very quickly for treatment. Every one of our dispatchers is trained to ask a series of several questions. This takes away the stress of a dispatcher trying to come up with questions on their own to acquire medical information applicable to the current situation. Some of our dispatchers are EMTs or former EMTs, but many are not. It is less stressful for those who are not well trained in the pre-hospital medical field to ask the designated questions, so we ask your patience while they are asked. Rest assured, your dispatcher’s partner has already dispatched that ambulance, fire truck or officer while you are being asked those pesky questions!

Each dispatcher has emergency medical dispatch training and certification, in addition to CPR certification. Because of those certifications, we are required to recertify them every 2 years. When you call us, please feel assured that you will get the same response from the dispatcher every time because they really are doing their job.

So, in spite of what you might see on TV, there is a lot of work and responsibility involved in the dispatching of one call. Having your cooperation, to work with us as a partner in getting that done, is the ultimate goal. After all, you do not have training to be the perfect 9-1-1 caller!

It is common that our dispatchers don’t know the final outcome, or the story behind a call to 9-1-1. It is also very common that our dispatchers do not get a thank you or an “atta boy” for the job they did on a really tough call. More typically, we hear from the disgruntled caller when we did something wrong. I am happy to say that complaints to me regarding my dispatchers are very few and far between. They are very aware of what is expected of them and what policy and procedures are there to help them through every call, and they follow them. For that, I am thankful and I want them to know how very proud of them I am.

Joanna Hamilton, 9-1-1 Director
Ravalli County

Truth about trapping

Dear Editor,

There were a few mistakes in the Missoulian article (July 16, 2009) on the submission of Footloose Montana’s “Montana Trap-Free Public Lands Initiative.“

Trapper Tom Barnes is quoted as saying that dog captures in traps “are very rare.” Fact is that Footloose Montana has received about 20 reports from people whose dogs were caught in traps over the past two years. Six out of these 20 dogs either died in traps or as a result of the severe injuries sustained from traps.

The article and the clarification falsely state that traps are forbidden within 1,000 feet from trailheads and along trails.

The fact is the Montana Furbearer Trapping regulations state that “On public, federal and state school trust lands, ground sets including snares are prohibited within 300 feet…”

Also, traps are allowed along trails. Traps set for furbearing animals can be set 50 feet from trails and 30 feet from the centerline of public roads.

Traps to kill certain predators and non-game animals can be set anywhere, even on trails as the trapping of these species is not regulated at all.

The article states that the Footloose Montana initiative would not affect trapping done for scientific and public health and safety purposes “provided government employees do the trapping.”

Fact is that trapping for scientific purposes would not be affected at all by Footloose Montana’s initiative, and that trapping to protect human health and safety would continue provided that employees of the state or any other unit of government do the trapping of wildlife.

Mr. Barnes was quoted as saying that “trapping is a tool to control animal populations.”

However, Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) administers the trapping of furbearing wildlife strictly for recreational purposes, and as such, furbearer trapping is not a management tool.

Louise Miller
Hamilton

Support for Tester’s bill

Dear Editor,

As a seasoned Wilderness Ranger, as someone who believes strongly in the protection of our remaining wild landscapes for the benefit of future generations, and as a young person who hasn’t seen a new Wilderness created in Montana in my lifetime, I couldn’t have been happier to stand with other supporters of the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act to hear from the bill’s primary sponsor, Senator Tester.

We may have all generally looked the same, but the diversity of the crowd became apparent when Senator Tester opened the discussion to the audience. Timber industry employees, ATV users, sportsmen, environmental educators, and Wilderness advocates alike joined together in support of what could become the new model of Federal land management in the West – collaboration and compromise. All sides can never get all they want – that’s not how politics works – but all sides know this is a large first step in the right direction, and that should this bill prove successful, more of its kind may be on the way.

The time is right for a bill that combines the efforts and goals of a wide range of Montana’s population. Let’s work together to make the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act a reality.

I was at the meeting with Jon Tester in Seeley Lake last Saturday, and I wrote a response that I hope you'll publish soon.  I'm a Wilderness Ranger in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, so it may be difficult to reach me for the next week.  In case you need information about me, I'm a Geography major at the University of Montana and I live in Missoula.  My phone number is (617) 872-5352, but I will be working in the Wilderness until next Monday, so I won't be able to get any calls until then.

Zack Porter
Missoula

Support for Tester’s bill

Dear Editor,

This is a letter of gratitude to Senator Jon Tester.

It seems to me that Senator Tester’s wisdom and ability to support and to help Montana’s timber industry has been superbly performed, because he has also listened equally carefully and considerately to those Montanans who are conscious of the great importance of effective conservation policies for Montana.

I believe that my own gratitude to Senator Tester is shared by all of our citizens.

The state of Montana has a depth of immeasurable value in the many men and women who work in our timber mills and in the natural beauty of wilderness areas, such as those of the East Pioneers and the West Pioneers.

I sincerely hope that Senator Tester’s bill will sustain our men and women, as well as sustain the natural beauty of our state.

We chose Senator Tester to make the best decisions for everyone in our state, and I sincerely believe that he has been doing that.

Tap ‘er light and tap ‘er again!

Howard T. Smith
Butte

Support for Tester’s bill

Dear Editor,

It's been over 15 years since a Montana wilderness bill has been drafted... political gridlock over forest management benefiting neither timber companies nor environmentalists nor the health of our forests.

Now, finally, we have a senator with the courage to step up and take this bull by the horns. Thank you, Senator Tester!

As indicated by the bill's title "Forest Jobs and Recreation Act of 2009", this bill would do much more than simply designate some outstanding areas as wilderness.

Tester's bill gives the Forest Service very clear marching orders to aggressively pursue large-scale Forest Stewardship projects aimed at restoring forest wildlife habitat, while also accelerating timber production for local mills.

All kinds of recreationists will find win-win solutions that combine innovative ideas developed by local working groups. Thanks to Jon Tester, those years of hard work might finally pay off!

Do I like every detail in Tester's bill? No. I can see a few needed improvements. But, Mr. Tester has made it clear that his bill is a "work in progress." I've been extremely impressed by the willingness of his knowledgeable staff members to listen and take note of my concerns.

Read it for yourself, then help improve and support this valuable bill.

Jack Kirkley
Dillon

Support for Tester’s bill

Dear Editor,

We want to voice our support for Senator Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. Our country and state are facing huge challenges: rising unemployment, deteriorating wildlands and wildlife habitat, and addiction to foreign energy sources that are threatening our security and health. We feel that by introducing this legislation Tester is taking these issues on while bringing many local stakeholders to the table.

In addition to creating local jobs and protecting our public lands, this bill will lay the groundwork for new bio-mass power plants within the state. These facilities can help us create local energy while making our forests more beetle resistant and reducing the risk of catastrophic wild fire. On top of that, having a biomass industry will create timber jobs that will not rely on the historically unstable housing market.

We cannot let the distrust caused by poor management decisions of the past paralyze us from supporting good legislation for the future. This legislation is not perfect and so Senator Tester needs to hear our concerns. There need to be provisions for good oversight and transparency to insure that the bill actually does what is intended: improve forest health while fueling local jobs and energy independence.

Mike and Abrei Cloud Schaedel
Missoula

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