Several issues have converged in my daily read of the Post-Gazette which merit discussion.
Twenty years ago, my legislation would have forbidden insurance companies from using DNA information regarding pre-existing conditions. This issue still needs attention. In 1994, I authored the Organ Donor Act, which has been adopted across the world. While the measure has saved thousands of lives, it is time to take additional life-saving steps on this issue. Some 50 million Americans have no health insurance yet we dither over a solution.
Last month Bob Cranmer wrote a laudatory piece about former Mayor Tom Murphy's many accomplishments ("Pittsburgh's Debt to Tom Murphy," Oct. 13).
What these issues have in common is our difficulty in solving our problems. Both parties and the media have a role in these failures and a stake in the solutions. My simple suggestion is that we do what America is great at. Recognize that life is full of risk and requires individual and community effort -- and that sometimes we fail before winning.
Be it health care or economic development, Americans have always taken chances challenging the status quo for the betterment of the people.
At our birth we challenged the accepted world order and gave it the best concept of living free. America is hard-charging, open-minded, risk-taking and ultimately responsibility-facing while reaching for liberty and unleashing unprecedented human potential!
MICHAEL M. DAWIDA
Brookline
The writer, a lawyer and assistant professor at California University of Pennsylvania, is a former state representative, state senator and Allegheny County commissioner
Posted
Nov 04 2009, 05:00 AM
by
Susan Mannella