Say no to Medicaid work necessities

Illinois residents depend on Medicaid to entry high quality, reasonably priced healthcare. One provision below dialogue would add boundaries to healthcare referred to as “work necessities.”

Based on the Kaiser Household Basis, 91% of people within the Medicaid enlargement group are both staff, caregivers, college students or folks unable to work attributable to sickness. These necessities aren’t about work. They’re about including pointless, burdensome paperwork that ends in folks shedding their protection attributable to crimson tape.

Different provisions below dialogue as a part of debt ceiling talks would repeal tax incentives for clear vitality or open the door for constructing extra sources of polluting vitality, like coal and gasoline, whereas weakening the general public’s proper to have interaction in these allowing choices. Already, greater than 1 in 3 Individuals reside with unhealthy air. Including extra air pollution will make well being issues worse.

As the general public coverage chair with the Midwest American Lung Affiliation, I do know first-hand the significance of well being care and clear air for folks dwelling with persistent ailments like bronchial asthma and COPD. If these provisions go into impact, many extra folks might face poor air high quality or lack of well being care protection, leaving them unable to handle their persistent lung illness, which ends up in extra dire, costlier care down the highway.

These provisions would particularly hurt folks with disabilities, kids, people who’re pregnant and seniors in nursing properties. I ask that U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin reject the Medicaid work proposal and the build-out of further polluting vitality, to raised shield the well being of all Illinois residents.

John Maples, American Lung Affiliation in Better Chicago

Use vacant colleges to accommodate immigrants

I’m not a proponent of the hundreds of immigrants pouring over the border. Nevertheless, the very fact is, our administration is letting it occur. Having some bused to sanctuary cities, amongst them Chicago and New York, has made Texas Gov. Greg Abbott into some sort of monster. He’s simply giving these cities what they need. Or do they need this? Now they’re saying no, we will’t deal with this.

Now we have nowhere to place them. The place do they suppose the border cities of Texas are going to place them? Right here’s an thought for Chicago: Get them out of our police stations and colleges and put them within the 50 colleges that had been closed 10 years in the past; 26 of these colleges are nonetheless vacant.

John LaBrant, Norwood Park

GOP ought to cease being puppets to NRA

This 12 months alone, there was greater than 200 mass shootings in America. And regardless of the hundreds of mindless killings and maimings from these unending massacres, the overwhelming majority of Republican elected officers, in each stage of presidency, proceed to refuse to do something about it.

As an alternative. they do all inside their energy to stop significant laws on gun management and psychological well being initiatives from ever being handed. They accomplish that to guard these they’ve pledged to serve, that being the Nationwide Rifle Affiliation.

So my query is: When one other mass capturing happens, what’s the very first thing that crosses the minds of the NRA and its puppet Republicans?

1. What a fantastic nation that is! Another person simply exercised their 2nd Modification rights!

2. Great! Extra shootings imply extra gun gross sales, each to those that are pissed off on the world and those that wish to defend themselves in opposition to those that are pissed off on the world!

3. This time, ought to we blame it on unarmed academics, door lock producers, abortions, single mothers, wokeness or Hunter Biden?

Jeffrey Meyer, Chicago