This is Viewpoints for Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Longer truck trailers?

If there’s one topic lawmakers agree on, it’s the need to improve America’s deteriorating infrastructure. And they’re right to prioritize it — American households and businesses rely on the transportation system to obtain goods and demand for goods transported by trucks is expected to grow 40 percent by 2045.

The American Society of Civil Engineers 2014 Infrastructure Report Card gave Georgia a C on infrastructure, and a C minus rating on its road network specifically. The result — Georgians lose $33 million annually due to time spent in traffic and waste over 460,000 gallons of fuel.

Fortunately, Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., has the opportunity to advance commonsense policies to modernize America’s transportation network. Updating decades-old policy to allow twin 33-foot trailers to operate on all interstate highways is a zero-cost solution that will improve safety, efficiency and sustainability in Georgia and across the country.

With five additional feet than current 28-foot units, these double trailers will still abide by existing weight limits and will still be shorter than many other configurations currently on the road. In fact, longer trucks have been operating safely in 20 other states for decades. The benefit: if this policy were in place in 2014, drivers would have saved 53 million hours with less congestion, trucks would have used 255 million fewer gallons of fuel, and policymakers would have averted 4,500 crashes.

At a time when infrastructure is in the spotlight, Rep. Bishop should seize this opportunity to modernize our transportation system.

Where did it come from?

An editorial last Sunday (6/18) regarding payments from Macon –Bibb County to The Medical Center-Navicent Health, referenced a stunning figure that Navicent has “an unrestricted reserve of $752 million. Please read that again — three quarters of a billion dollars. Where did this money come from?

The Med Center has been screaming poverty for as long as I have been in Macon (44 years) yet they have apparently built up a nest egg of staggering proportions. This from a “non-profit” organization. I am sorry but this looks like profits on a grand scale.

I appreciate the Medical Center’s Level One Trauma Center better than most having passed through it four years ago. Again, I ask, where did $752 million in unrestricted reserves come from?

GOP serving the rich?

Whom does the Republican Party serve? I would argue that it is not the millions of citizens who voted them into office. Those in charge in Congress instead seem to serve the top 1 percent and the rich donors who now pour millions of dollars into their campaign coffers since the disastrous Citizens United decision made it legal to purchase legislators.

How can a sane person interpret the “health care” bill snuck through the process in closed door sessions any differently? It is a health care bill in name only. It is simply a gift to the wealthy, a tax break for the richest, paid for by the well being of those least able to afford it. Those in power in Congress choose to serve and reward the few at the top at the expense of the vast majority of their true constituents.

Do the wealthy really need this help? Does the party that tries to identify itself as God-fearing Christians really believe Jesus would vote for this bill? Or would he be overturning the tables in Congress, exposing them as a “den of thieves.” There is nothing Christian about this bill. Nor does it solve any of the imperfections of the ACA. It’s a sham, and a disgusting one. The Better Care Reconciliation Act is neither better, caring, nor reconciling.

Can you live with it?

Despite not having read the Senate’s version of the American Health Care Act now known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act, Sen. David Perdue said, “I can live with this.” The Senate bill hardly differs from the House bill. It still gives $1.3 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. According to Open Secrets, David Perdue is one of the wealthiest senators in Washington with a net worth of about $33 million. Of course, he can live with that bill.

The bill cuts Medicaid to the tune of $880 billion so that our richest citizens can have more, paid for by our most vulnerable. Some people think that those on Medicaid are freeloaders and should go out and get a job, but one in every 10 veterans have Medicaid as are 1.3 million of Georgia’s children including all children in the foster care system. Seventy-five percent of all nursing home patients are covered by Medicaid. Hundreds of thousands of Georgians with disabilities are covered by Medicaid and they often are able to have jobs and pay taxes because of this benefit. And the list goes on.

Every child born with a birth defect or who develops a childhood cancer will be uninsurable as an adult. Your employer-based insurance plan can add annual and lifetime caps. Maybe Perdue can live with this bill, but can Georgians?

Excellent health care in Middle Georgia

On May 24, I went to work and returned home at approximately 3 p.m. At 8:30 p.m., I was found unconscious in my house. Emergency personnel were called, and I was transferred to The Medical Center-Navicent Health. For eight days, I was in the ICU Trauma unit. The staff worked tirelessly toward helping me regain full usage of all organs. After I was able to breathe on my own, I was transferred to a regular hospital room.

For the first few days, the hospital provided a full-time companion to ensure that I did not experience any issues. Again, the staff worked endlessly to save me and help to restore my health. I stayed in the hospital for 10 additional days. Miraculously, with God’s grace and the excellent care that I received from the staff that I encountered at Navicent Health, I entered rehabilitation on June 11.

During my rehabilitation stay at Rehabilitation Hospital-Navicent Health, I again encountered exceptional and caring staff. With their help, I left rehabilitation on June 18 to return home. I am currently continuing to receive the same great service at the Medical Center of Peach County Rehabilitative Services.

I know that it is a miracle that I am alive today. I am so pleased that I received top-notch health care from top-notch personnel. Middle Georgia residents are blessed to have health-care facilities staffed with such caring medical and administrative professionals.

This story was originally published June 26, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Tuesday, June 27, 2017."