State is making progress on uninsured
Mike Dennison’s recent article (Sept. 4) on the decrease in the number of uninsured in Montana is good news. However, I can add one additional reason we are making progress in getting Montanans covered.
In the article, the Census Bureau reports that 20,000 Montanans gained health insurance coverage since 2005. Starting in 2004, the Montana Chamber of Commerce offered an association health insurance program, Montana Chamber Choices. With a merger this past year from Associated Merchandisers Inc., Chamber Choices now covers around 20,000 lives - which is equivalent to the population of Kalispell.
Is there more to do? Absolutely. The Montana Chamber is strongly focused on wellness and health promotion, to prevent or diminish medical problems before they start. We just hired Chelsea Fagen as our new health benefits director to ensure we collaborate to decrease preventable disease. Additionally, the Montana Chamber is a sponsor and host of the annual Healthcare Forum, (www.montanahealthcareforum.com), which seeks solutions for this issue. And finally, we will continue our advocacy for a healthy Montana.
Unlike Insure Montana, there is no waiting list for Chamber Choices and small employers with one to 99 employees are immediately eligible to gain coverage through this health program. We invite those businesses to check it out. No, the subsidy is no longer available. But every other new customer in Chamber Choices is previously uninsured, so we must be doing something right.
For more information, visit our site at chamberchoices.com. This program is truly living up to its motto - “We’ve got you covered!”
Webb Brown, president, Montana Chamber of Commerce, Helena
Community organizing is proud tradition
Rudy Giuliani’s snide comment at the Republican convention about “community organizing” puts several things in sharp relief.
He mocked this aspect of Barack Obama’s resume as somehow lacking in heft and seriousness. Our common concept of democracy, as I understand it, envisions ultimate power flowing upward from the governed. While this concept is much battered of late, it still seems to be paid a lot of lip service as an ideal to be pursued.
Virtually all our gains in individual rights have come from popular movements: civil rights, the vote for women, emancipation of labor from the slave wages and killing conditions of a century ago. These rights were not benevolently bestowed from on high. Giuliani, who has parlayed his former position of power into making millions, represents an entirely different tradition. This is a top-down power structure in which the “Master of the Universe” folks who populate Wall Street and Washington make the regulations - and deregulations - that govern our economic and political fate.
For far too long now, power has been flowing to the executive branch of government and the nation’s wealth has been concentrating upward. This seems to be the historical, natural order of things, and can only be countermanded by constant, concentrated efforts of folks who want to keep a decently sized middle class carved out. In short, it takes “community organizing.” Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and a few other well-known 18th century citizens came from that tradition.
Bruce Ford, Missoula
Bush wasn’t experienced enough, either
Let’s say we give the Republicans the benefit of the doubt on the idea that Sarah Palin is experienced enough to be president.
By the same logic, does that not imply that George W. Bush was experienced enough by Sept. 11, 2001 to have prevented the attack? He had been president for longer than Palin has been governor of Alaska, and if she is ready to take over the job of president, then he certainly should have been ready to do the job, too.
If 20 months as a governor qualifies you to be second in line for president, then 20 months in the actual job should qualify you to take full responsibility for the shortcomings of your actions during those months. Bush did not do that, and his party supported his idea that the attack was all Clinton’s fault. I guess to Republicans, 20 months is only a long enough time for experience, but not enough time for any sort of useful action. Somehow, that does not make me believe their party is the right choice to protect this nation. After all, if McCain and Palin should win, 20 months may not be enough time for them to protect us either, since they belong to the same group that failed last time.
Dale Ward, Missoula
Governor should resign for snide joke
This morning (Sept. 11) we opened the Missoulian to a frontpage article about the governor of Montana stating that he was only joking about his involvement in voter fraud.
What the governor’s joke really showed was his contempt for Republican citizens of Montana. It also tells me that he has no desire to serve these citizens. When a governor is elected, it is with the understanding that he/she will serve all citizens of their state. His joke clearly shows that he has no intent to fulfill that requirement, therefore he should do the ethical thing and resign.
There should be no place in Montana government for a person who has no respect for the right of voters to have an honest and clean election.
Once again, governor, your mouth took control of your brain. Enough is enough. Resign, governor.
Bobby W. Newland, Hamilton
Obama understands challenges we face
An open letter to Barack Obama:
I have a chance to vote for a world-class presidential leader on Nov. 4. I have listened to all sides. I clearly identify with the issues and the necessity to address them. I also know that I am one of the lucky ones. I have always had a job, insurance and security, but this country and the world have changed.
I first recognized changes in the workplace in the mid-’80s when I worked evenings at a new IRS distribution center in downstate Illinois. That job provided me with security, benefits and a fair wage. Soon though, the people who began working were hired as temps with no benefits, no insurance and no security, often told the night before whether they were needed the next day. While I understand the economics of a fluid work force, it seemed unfair and I saw it as a troubling new trend.
This trend has grown while other issues have added to the dilemma. A medical exam with routine tests can cost close to a month’s salary, an unplanned trip to the dentist more, and a trip to the emergency room unaffordable. Veterans face challenges they were unprepared for, our children want an education but the costs are out of reach. New energy technologies are within reach yet we hold back to what was. We want to lead as a country but many feel we are following.
You are a man of proven integrity; a man who knows no boundaries. You have transitioned barriers that many still cling to, with integrity and understanding. You have confronted problems with true leadership that will not accept second best. Your service as president will be to the entire country.
I look forward to voting on Nov. 4.
Laura Miller, Missoula
Remembering Obama’s best flip-flops
As the national election draws closer, and Obama continues his slide in the polls (according to the latest from Rasmussen, Zogby and even CNN), I thought it would be fun to point out the best Obama policy flip-flops that the media just hates to inform the sheep (liberals) about.
Flip-flop No. 1: Throughout the primaries, Obama said continuously that he would pull out of Iraq immediately. Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, told Charles Gibson that “when Obama’s elected, we will be out of Iraq within 16 months at the most. There should be no confusion about that.” But in July, Obama “refined” his position, stating, “I’ve always said that the pace of withdrawal would be dictated by the safety and security of our troops and the need to maintain stability. That assessment has not changed ... ” Huh?
Obama flip-flop No. 2: In June, Obama said he thought the D.C. handgun ban was unconstitutional. Obama: “It looks to me that the D.C. handgun ban overshot the runway. That it went beyond constitutional limits” (Bloomberg’s “Taking Stock,” June 26). But in February, when asked by Leon Harris, “but you support the D.C. handgun ban?” Obama said, “Right.” (Feb. 12). Huh?
Obama flip-flop No. 3: Obama: “Make no mistake, this is an area where John McCain is offering a third Bush term.” This was in reference to McCain’s proposed energy policy to the Philadelphia Inquirer on April 1. But naturally, Obama failed to mention that he himself voted for the Bush 2005 Energy Bill, which passed the Senate 74-26.
All this waffling from a man who stated, to a live audience in Oregon on May 10, that “I’ve been in 57 states, (with) I think one left to go.” Objective scrutiny is scary, isn’t it?
Daniel Shevlin, Missoula
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