Page 8 - Ct Viewpoints News Today

To those, mostly Republicans, who do not believe everyone has a right to healthcare, and are perfectly happy to see illness, even pandemic, as an opportunity for profit and sky-high salaries, I have nothing to say. They will invent facts and not listen to logic. I am writing to those struggling to defend the public option healthcare plan, under the burden of a mass of disinformation put out by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA). The latest version of the Public Option (SB ...

Ensure that undocumented individuals have access to COVID-19 vaccine USDA Now that the COVID-19 vaccine is available for all Connecticut residents over the age of 16 years, we must ensure equal access to the vaccine for all community members, especially vulnerable populations. In Connecticut, one such population that deserves our attention and support are our migrant farmworkers. Moe Uddin On Feb. 1, 2021 the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement supporting equal access to COVID-19...

Governor Lamont can negotiate a bold, equitable budget Last summer, after George Floyd’s murder sent a shock wave through our nation, people across Connecticut took to the streets to demand an end to systemic racism and inequality in our state. Residents in urban, rural, and suburban communities spoke in one unified voice demanding that in Connecticut, Black Lives Matter. This is a call for the liberation of Black folks — for the removal of structural, institutional and economic violence th...

Everybody in, especially those left out Systemic racism permeates Connecticuts policies on prisons in many ways. Its time to fix that. In the wake of the spate of gun violence massacres, resuming again with deadly consequences, we are at a familiar crossroads: Do we revert to our usual, American individualized ‘othering,’, or do we reconcile that there is no ‘them’- only ‘us,’ that we refuse to claim? State Rep. Anne Hughes I’m campaigning to reframe the American ‘us’ from som...

Federal funding pushes Connecticut legislators to move the needle on drug policy and save lives Recently we took care of a patient who had experienced over 10 opioid overdoses in the last two years. He had multiple infections related to injection drug use. He was in and out of jail where he did not have access to life-saving medication therapy for opioid use disorder. His story is not uncommon; in fact, a leading cause of death following incarceration is drug overdose. In Connecticut more than ...

Marijuana under cultivation indoors where light, temperature and humidity are controlled. Fred Carstensen’s article analyzing the revenue prospects of legalized recreational marijuana on the future of Connecticut’s economic recovery, to be fair, should also analyze the socioeconomic costs involved with its passage to present an accurate picture of the overall fiscal impact on the economy. Clearly, the professor’s article does not advocate for or against its passage, but I am sure that the...

The political roadhouse brawl about the State Pier A rendering of the State Pier facility in New London after infrastructure improvements in the approved plan. Op-eds, insults, pink paint, and felony charges flying as two chairmen, an executive Director and office manager at the Port Authority all lost their jobs. Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s investigation of the Connecticut Port Authority is dragging through its second year. The press outside of Southeastern Connecticut seems largely un...

Rebuttal: Zoning reform is long overdue In a March 24 opinion piece titled A plea for a hold on zoning reform, author Alexis Harrison of Fairfield attacked H.B. 6107 and (without naming it) S.B. 1024. As a fellow Fairfield County resident (from the neighboring town of Trumbull) who thinks zoning reform is one key to building a more prosperous and inclusive Connecticut, I’d like to counter its claims and make an argument of my own. Thomas Broderick Her March 24  piece involved a series of som...

Physician-aided death is not healthcare We just passed the year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare workers have been saving lives and comforting the dying one breathing tube at a time. We have been working double and triple shifts, we’ve cried as we have lost patients and comforted families, and we have been called heroes. And now, for some reason, legislation to enact physician-assisted death is up for discussion: H.B. No. 6425, An Act Concerning Aid In Dying For Terminally Ill Patien...

Why we have to target racism to improve health outcomes Kaiser Family Foundation The COVID-19 pandemic affects us all, but it has taken an especially severe toll on Black and Hispanic state residents, magnifying inequities that have long produced worse health outcomes for people of color. Petronella Photography Tiffany Donelson This reality has led to many policy proposals to address health inequities, as well as conversations that center on the role of racism in producing disparate health outc...