Letters to the Editor

Corbett administration fails kids

The Kaiser Family Foundation's national report on Medicaid shows the world what Pennsylvania's doctors and nurses already know: Pennsylvania is doing an abysmal job in caring for its youngest and most vulnerable citizens ("Medicaid numbers plummet in Pa.," Aug. 28).

As a family doctor working in safety-net clinics in Philadelphia for more than a decade, I have seen far too many children put at risk by delayed care because Medicaid was cut off or unfairly denied. The result is children with developmental delays who go without early intervention. It is children with asthma who miss school and end up in hospitals because their parents cannot afford medication. And it is children with neglected injuries, including fractures, because parents know they don't have money to pay an expensive emergency bill and don't know where to turn.

Bureaucrats in Harrisburg who have allowed this situation should look into the faces of these children as I have, and into the faces of their parents. Children are the state's future. Yet as the Kaiser Family Foundation amply demonstrates, Pennsylvania is failing to protect that future while other states look toward the Obamacare Medicaid expansion as a way of supporting this critical work. Harrisburg leaders should regard this report as a national embarrassment and a call to reconsider ill-advised Medicaid policies. Gov. Corbett should enact the Medicaid expansion along with a more transparent, effective system for encouraging all eligible children and adults to enroll in Medicaid.

Cheryl Bettigole, M.D., Philadelphia, cbettigole@gmail.com

Play nice on sports gender issue

As the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association considers whether to continue to pursue a prohibition on boys playing on girls' teams - an effort based on stereotypes that girls are weaker and more injury-prone than boys - it should be mindful of the Commonwealth Court's warning ("Sports gender policy to stand," Aug. 30). As the court noted, "It would be wise for PIAA to consider all available precedent, and all available options, in crafting any policy that would limit, let alone categorically bar, a particular gender from participating on an interscholastic team."

To the extent PIAA adopts a bylaw that ignores precedent, it is likely to be challenged and found to be unconstitutional. The Pennsylvania Equal Rights Amendment prohibits the PIAA (and its member public schools) from having policies or practices based on average differences between the sexes. Boys and girls are not uniquely different in factors that affect athletic ability. Nor are girls at greater injury risk if they play with boys. Either PIAA must leave its rules alone or base them on non-sex-based characteristics such as height and weight. PIAA cannot perpetuate harmful stereotypes about girls and boys.

Terry L. Fromson and Amal Bass, Women's Law Project, Philadelphia

Hopper was the latest thing once

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts should abandon its unwise plan to sell one of its Edward Hopper paintings. What's wrong with this picture? Of course, the academy will want to purchase contemporary art: At one time, Hopper was new and unknown. To some eyes, his work no doubt seemed odd. But in a well-conducted and successful arts institution, it is the job of the development office and the board of trustees to raise the endowment, not the museum director acting as salesperson. PAFA is at risk of creating an embarrassment for itself and for Philadelphia.

Steven J. Peitzman, Philadelphia

Only diplomacy leads out of crisis

President Obama has walked into a box on Syria. The only way out for him is to show he is a statesman and deserving of his Nobel Peace Prize by suggesting a cease-fire monitored by the United Nations, and then to convene a conference for all concerned parties to resolve the Syrian issue. By doing this, Obama would undermine the Russians and their failed peace initiatives.

Edgars Nilenders, Huntingdon Valley

Taught well now, or jailed later

I agree with your recent editorial and would add that Head Start cuts also mean more future crime ("Head Start cuts mean falling behind," Aug. 28). Many law enforcement leaders consider quality early-childhood education critical in an overall strategy to curb crime and violence. Research is clear that quality early-learning programs boost school readiness and help control early aggressive behaviors in at-risk children, lowering their need for expensive special education, and reducing the odds that they will continue to develop antisocial delinquent (and even criminal) behaviors as they get older. Thousands of our city's most vulnerable children being shut out of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for early education is simply unacceptable. State and federal policymakers must prioritize early-childhood education.

R. Seth Williams, district attorney, City of Philadelphia