Letters: Legislation protects patients, families; Development will have negative impact on community

Legislation protects patients, families

Cancer patients are already fighting for their lives. They cannot afford to wait on insurers to approve tests or treatments ordered by doctors as those delays can cost them precious, lifesaving time. Currently insurance company practices are forcing them to wait.

Insurance companies sometimes take weeks or longer to approve the needed treatments. Other patients wait because of a practice called “step therapy,” in which a patient must fail on a less expensive medicine before being allowed the treatment the physician and patient have determined to be the correct drug.

It is long past time for Senate Bill 225, legislation being considered by Pennsylvania state lawmakers to be brought up for a vote! Patients and providers have waited a long time. SB225 will ensure that patients have access to the right medicine and the right tests at the right time. Currently, cancer patients can be forced to face unnecessary barriers to receive their medications because of these practices. Because of this, these patients and their families are forced to face unneeded anxiety. Timely, appropriate treatment is halted when these processes are in effect. We must do all we can to assure patients and their families are protected.

To my state Senator Jake Corman and members of the Senate, please support this vital legislation that Pennsylvania providers and patients have long awaited. Please bring it to a vote. By doing so, you will protect Pennsylvanians and their families as they face life threatening chronic health issues.

Development will have negative impact on community

We need affordable housing in State College Borough, but the four-story apartment building proposed for construction on the site of the former Recumbent Bicycles business on South Atherton Street will negatively impact the entire adjoining residential community. The proposal extends into what is already a very small community park and is too close to neighbors’ homes.

The architectural rendering shows a four-story building, but does not convey the impact on adjacent homes. The project should not consume the neighborhood park and overwhelm the existing neighborhood. Nobody should have to look out of their back windows at a towering four-story building and parking lot. Why not build this project in the unused sections of the Westerly Parkway shopping mall?

Concealed carry bill would be ‘inviting disaster’

I find it hard to believe the Pennsylvania Legislature is even considering House Bill 659. What are you thinking? The current concealed carry permit laws at least give law enforcement some minimal idea of who is law abiding enough to carry, but requires little if any training. I would think a responsible legislator would want to make it harder (i.e. more training requirements) to carry concealed. There are far too many short tempered people with little or no self-control who can pass a background check. To allow them to carry a concealed weapon is inviting disaster.

New PSU president to face big decisions

Since Penn State is a multi-billion dollar operation it is very important to select an individual with a business background. Most academics do not have such experience and it should, most probably, eliminate those traditional candidates with only academic experience. The major decision for the incoming PSU president is to drastically cut operating costs. PSU operating costs have dramatically increased over the years with no increase in operational efficiencies. With new learning technologies, off-site classes for many students will become the norm. This eliminates costs associated with buildings for classrooms and dorms. It is time for major changes in operations across the board. As a land grant university it has a responsibility is to live up to this charter. It is time to reread the charter and initiate programs to make PSU a leader in truly land grant universities! Every additional building and academic program creates everlasting rising costs. Time for the board of trustees to force changes across the board to make Penn State the most efficient land grant across the board leader among all land grant universities in operating efficiencies. It might be interesting study how Cornell operates as a land grant and Ivy League institution.