Letters: DHS removes barriers to care; Spotlight reveals legislative waste
DHS removes barriers to care
Every Pennsylvanian deserves access to high-quality, affordable, local health care, and the dignity and peace of mind of knowing they can get care when they need it. The commonwealth has no shortage of health care professionals who want to provide care through the Medicaid program, which serves more than 3.7 million Pennsylvanians, including children, seniors and people with disabilities.
However, until recently, long wait times to be approved by the state were often a barrier for providers who wanted to offer services through Medicaid. This backlog had real consequences: not only did potential Medicaid providers face a barrier in providing critical services, but Medicaid recipients could not receive those services. Recognizing the importance of this issue, the Shapiro Administration and Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) staff and leadership prioritized eliminating the backlog of provider enrollment applications to help ensure Pennsylvanians can get the care they need. DHS was able to decrease that backlog by 75% in the first 100 days under Governor Josh Shapiro and is happy to report that that backlog has now been fully eliminated.
By removing a barrier for providers and patients, DHS is proving its commitment to being an efficient and effective partner to providers who want to offer services within the Medicaid program. By eliminating the backlog in provider enrollment, DHS is enabling more providers to do what they do best: care for their fellow Pennsylvanians.
Val Arkoosh, acting secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services and Cheri Rinehart, president and CEO of Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers.
Spotlight reveals legislative waste
Thanks to Spotlight PA, we now know how much former governor Wolf and the former Republican leadership in the legislature spent losing a lawsuit that had been initiated, to quote Spotlight, to make the state live up to its “constitutional obligation to provide fair and equitable funding to all public school children.”
$12.6 million.
Sadly, the Republican leadership was most virulent in its opposition, arguing that the Pennsylvania Constitution, in my words, allowed for a race to the bottom. For the life of me I cannot understand why Republicans want to annihilate public education.
Senate Republicans spent $4.7 million and House Republicans spent $4 million in legal fees trying to dummy down one of the bedrocks of our society. Recall that the leadership included then Sen. Jake Corman of Benner Township and still Rep. Kerry Benninghoff of Bellefonte, both beneficiaries of public education.
A special thanks to Spotlight for revealing this information by using the right-to-know law. Obviously, the politicians would have preferred to keep this waste of our tax dollars a secret.
R. Thomas Berner, Benner Township
Responsible contracting will save lives
As a former inspector for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), I learned first-hand the importance of employers taking responsibility to provide a safe workplace and to ensure workers have proper training. This is especially evident in construction, where on-the-job deaths and serious injuries are extremely high. That is why I support a Centre County Responsible Contractor Ordinance (RCO) under consideration by the Centre County Commissioners. It would require that all craft workers complete a OSHA 10-hour training course and that at least one person complete a 30-hour course. Let’s join other PA counties, including Bucks and Dauphin, in protecting construction workers in this important way.
Eileen Senn, State College
