Posted on: Tuesday, February 1, 2005

Letters to the Editor

Social Security should not be privatized

James Roosevelt, son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who passed Social Security in 1935, urged President Bush in a TV letter not to privatize Social Security. The Republicans think that this year they have convinced Americans to support privatization of Social Security. I ask Americans to ask their Congress people to oppose privatization of Social Security because it would result in the abolition of Social Security.

No country has succeeded in privatizing Social Security. England realized that its old people would be in dire poverty, so the government added money to their pensions. Argentina is now in a severe economic crisis.

Please urge your Congress members to oppose the privatization of Social Security to keep the American dream alive.

Virtual test would weed out bad drivers

Rep. Jerry Chang has a good idea, but to say only those over 75 need to take the road test again is age discrimination. The state should retest everyone every five or 10 years.

There are video games on the market today that can be adapted to simulate an actual road test. The individual sits down and takes the virtual test, a computer records his mistakes, and depending on the severity or number of mistakes, he has his license renewed or not.

Of course, you allow for retesting after a while, and if he fails again, he has to go to driver's education and learn to drive all over again. This will weed out those who do not belong on the highways no matter what their age.

We need better way to repair our potholes

I've read with great interest the commentary on the sorry condition of our roads, but today I got a firsthand look at the work being done to fix the multitude of potholes.

While waiting for the walk signal at the intersection of Kapi'olani Boulevard and Kaheka Street, I watched as a glob of black patching material was placed in a large pothole in the middle of the crosswalk. It was stomped down by the crew, smoothed out with a shovel, and the truck moved down the road to fix the next hole (not too far down the road, mind you). Not even a minute had gone by but that glob had been knocked out of the pothole and was lying on the street. Back came the truck, and the glob was placed back in the hole and stomped down once again.

I don't know what the answer is for repairing our roads, but surely we can find a more durable material or method to repair these holes than this.

Good riddance to law

I was so happy to read in the paper that Bill 53 was passed by the City Council. For far too long, the city has used its eminent domain powers to justify the corrupt practice of forcing one person to sell his land to another. In a free and democratic society, this should never happen.

Let's just hope that we never again have a City Council like the one in 1991 that would pass legislation like Chapter 38 again.

Traffic light badly needed for safety

Tuesday morning, my baby and I were nearly run over on the stretch of Meheula Parkway abutting Mililani 'Ike Elementary.

As we stepped out into the crosswalk, the street was clear. By the time we approached the median, however, two trucks were flying down, their drivers busy talking on cell phones. Fortunately, I could tell that they were oblivious to us, so I stopped. They came so close that we could feel the wind in their wake, and my daughter screamed and clung to me in fear.

This road is treacherous; I and many others have witnessed frequent near-misses — most involving children and their families. We desperately need a traffic light, especially since in addition to the elementary school, we will soon have a recreation center there as well.

I have been told that we may not qualify for a light as the traffic is not heavy enough to warrant such intervention. It only takes one careless motorist, however, to cause a tragedy. I urge all Mililani Mauka residents to contact your representatives and fight for action.

In the meantime, motorists, please slow down and be alert.

Don't forget others

I love that Gov. Lingle has Hawai'i honoring our Kane'ohe Marines with our state flags at half-staff, but let us not forget our native sons who have also given their lives for us all. Change your statement, Gov. Lingle, to reflect honoring all of Hawai'i's soldiers, and be sure the flags stay at half-staff until Army 1st Lt. Nainoa K. Hoe has been returned to his native soil.

Bush administration didn't lie about WMDs

I am amazed by people who continue to talk about how the Bush administration lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Basic English says that in order to lie, one must first know the truth and then intentionally say something other than the truth. Since evidence prior to the invasion overwhelmingly led everyone in the Free World to honestly believe that Iraq had WMDs, not finding any such weapons after the invasion simply meant everyone was wrong, not that anyone had lied.

That the Bush administration secretly knew there were no WMDs prior to the invasion and then lied that there were is without any factual basis and, therefore, patently absurd.

Market City area is a pedestrian nightmare

The entire area around Market City is a veritable minefield for pedestrians regardless of age — but particularly for the elderly.

Fifteen years ago, my suggestion for signals at the pedestrian crossing near Sekiya Restaurant was rejected because it was deemed unnecessary. Meanwhile in the ensuing years, speeding has become horrendous, and crosswalks are a moot point.

As an elderly long-time resident of this area, I prefer to walk toward Kapahulu (even with the uneasiness of no sidewalks) and stand between parked cars in order to have a better vantage point. When clear, I run like the devil when signals at both ends of Kaimuki indicate safety.

Crossing in front of the school means swiveling my head to look in several directions for beer trucks, mopeds and other traffic entering and leaving Market City, as well as the traffic on Kaimuki coming off Kapi'olani and Kapahulu and the school itself. Because of parked cars, I usually have to get out into the street to see the four-way traffic.

Even crossing on Kapi'olani toward Foodland in the crosswalk is angst-ridden: Cars have swerved around me, front and back, oblivious that the walk signal is on. I've observed many people half my age swearing and shaking their fists as we all wonder which way to jump.

However, I still claim that a walk signal in front of Kaimuki High School just might slow speeders and give the rest of us a fighting chance of getting across with our lives.

Legislature will study needs of elderly drivers

I want to clarify the importance and intent of the bill that I introduced requiring residents who are 75 years or older to take a road test when renewing their driver's licenses.

Highway safety has always been a top priority in the Legislature, which has previously addressed the teenage driving issue by passing measures that make it harder and more restrictive for teenagers to obtain a driver's license, and we are working on other issues this session.

I know that there are many residents over the age of 75 who are still excellent drivers, and those people should have no problem passing a road test. Unfortunately, there are also a great number of seniors who have become unsafe drivers and who refuse to voluntarily give up their licenses.

My father was one of those people, and I know how difficult it can be for family members who live in fear that an elderly parent will someday cause a tragic accident. Too many learn their lessons the hard way and only give up their licenses when it's too late.

Many oppose the bill for the wrong reasons. They assume that they would not pass a driving test or do not want to go through the hassle and time of taking another test. But the purpose of the bill is to address the few who, for health reasons, are no longer capable of driving a vehicle in a safe manner.

An article in the Consumer Reports on Health newsletter states: "Drivers with cognitive problems caused by Alz-heimer's disease or multiple silent strokes pose a special danger because they tend to deny or hide their disability. By the time concerned family members get involved, the patient may still be competent to drive, but the accident rate increases markedly as dementia progresses."

In New Jersey, a Senate bill would devote funds to create senior citizen "safe-driving health centers" that would offer hospital-based medical and diagnostic services to improve the driving capability of older people. They would also assess the need for a senior's car to be modified by adjusting brakes, mirrors, seating and steering. The bill allows for auto insurance premium reductions for three years to older drivers who complete a safe-driving program.

The Legislature will cover everything from avoiding discrimination, alternative training, imposing road restrictions on certain drivers, how to assess driving ability, as well as the need for additional public transportation for the elderly and disabled in under-served areas.

Driving is a privilege, not a right. With that privilege comes the responsibility to drive only when you have the mental and physical skills to respond quickly and drive safely.

HMSA review system a shibai

Here we go again, with HMSA senior vice president Cliff Cisco seeming to express public support for a popular idea he really opposes while putting a spin on it that will undermine its benefits to HMSA members (Letters, Jan. 9).

Cisco expresses support for "the concept of an independent review process for health plan members in Hawai'i" but fails to note that it was the attorneys who regularly represent HMSA who convinced the Hawai'i Supreme Court to invalidate the truly independent external review provision of our Patients' Bill of Rights.

He also points to a voluntary provision in the HMSA member contract that is supposed to provide a voluntary external review by "an independent review organization," but fails to note that it is HMSA that selects the organization and that more often than not, the organization, which must delight in getting HMSA's lucrative review business, rules in favor of HMSA.

In the past, it has been the external review provided by the insurance commissioner, now declared void by the Hawaii Supreme Court in the case of ERISA plans, who has often ruled in patients' favor, contrary to the recommendation of the so-called independent review organization selected by HMSA.

It is particularly ironic that Cisco points out that when a benefit denial is based on medical necessity, HMSA offers the patient-member the option to have the matter arbitrated. First, the principal basis for the Hawai'i Supreme Court's decision to strike down the external review by the insurance commissioner was the health plan lawyers' argument that the external review provision in the Patients' Bill of Rights too closely resembled arbitration. (The U.S. Supreme Court had expressed the view that a state's external review of medical necessity decisions that too closely resembled arbitration would violate the federal ERISA law.) Now Cisco is offering arbitration as an alternative to a lawsuit.Ê

Second, what readers should understand is that arbitration, where the patient seeking to overturn a negative treatment decision must share the costs of the arbitrator, is almost always much more expensive than the value of the denied treatment, which is all the patient is entitled to recover. Going to arbitration under these circumstances is foolhardy.

The sad fact is that HMSA will only be happy when it can deny treatment at its whim with impunity. Its support of an independent review is the best example of shibai I can think of.

As of now, the only real recourse for a member of an employer-financed ERISA plan who is denied treatment is a lawsuit. If you find yourself in that position, call the Hawai'i Coalition for Health, 622-2655, which can direct you to a public-interest-oriented law firm willing to take such unprofitable cases.