As a former caregiver and a long-term care insurance broker, I have experienced and seen the impact on working family members of loved ones needing care.
Many stressed caregivers have had to quit their jobs or make them part-time, move in with loved ones, move back or travel to and from the mainland. I encourage legislators to pass Senate Bill 534/House Bill 607, which would provide $70 a day in vouchers to qualified working caregivers to pay for care for their loved ones.
Most adult day-care center fees are in this range and offer an excellent range of activities and socialization that serve to counter the progression of dementia, of which increasingly over half of long-term care insurance claims are made.
Since 95 percent of long-term care is custodial or non-medical in nature, most people can and want to get care in their own homes or community and continue to “age in place” as thousands now do in Hawaii.
John Nakao
Ala Moana
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Proud of Watson for travel ban ruling
As a Muslim, a once-upon-a-time immigrant (thank you to all my teachers at Queen Kaahumanu Elementary), and a Hawaii expat, I couldn’t be prouder of U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson (“Blocked,” Star-Advertiser, March 16). Aloha from the Bluegrass State!
Zohal Osman
Louisville, Ky.
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Terrorists now have Hawaii in their sights
Congratulations, Hawaii Democrats. You really showed that rascal Donald Trump!
In a politically motivated decision by a federal judge appointed by former Democratic President Barack Obama, Trump’s executive order to stop entry of people from six pro-terrorist countries was blocked. The decision was triggered by an expensive lawsuit filed by state Attorney General Douglas Chin and Gov. David Ige.
Terrorists in these countries, who had probably never heard of Hawaii, now know about us — that we are a paradise, and that they can now easily enter our “sanctuary” state to conduct their dirty deeds.
And now that our leaders have totally alienated the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress, fat chance of getting the windfalls of federal money that we’ve received in the past.
Did politicians bite the hand that feeds them?
Ray Graham
Waikiki
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Politicians won’t stop raising taxes
I appreciated the editorial, “Citizens already feel tax-fatigued” (Star-Advertiser, Our View, Feb. 22).
No kidding! Between the city and state, no opportunity to add a new tax or fee, or raise (again) an old one will be overlooked. Help! We’re drowning!
Some of the tax increases and fees being discussed to fund various projects and programs were taxes initially put in place to fund such projects, i.e., roads. Could we have an accounting of what’s happened to all that money?
I can understand some of the increases or even taxing online purchases. I don’t buy that much on Amazon, but admit it was one little bright spot to help deal with our high cost of living and heavy tax burden.
Now, on April 1, even that little bright spot will be dimmed by politicians with their paws out, already salivating to spend our hard-earned money on some pet project or cover costs of those that have been mismanaged (“Amazon to tax items sold in Hawaii,” Star-Advertiser, March 16).
Sally L. Jones
Kailua
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Special-needs kids need programs
Thank you for your article, “(Easter Seals) program for keiki to end over funds” (Star-Advertiser, March 13).
The only element that the article did not describe is that now there are no other after-school or summer fun programs for Hawaii’s special needs keiki.
Traditional A+ programs and programs at state parks and other facilities do not accept children with special needs.
Like all parents trying to make a living in the Aloha State, the jobs of parents of children with special needs do not end at 2 p.m. or provide time off every summer. Our continued contribution to our families, our workplaces and our state’s economy requires us to work normal hours.
Hawaii is a national leader in providing for our disabled, our kupuna and our keiki. Hawaii should step up and provide help to Easter Seals and other organizations that provide a safe and enriching environment so that our special-needs children are not sidelined and ignored.
Matthew Cohen
Makiki
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Don’t cut funding for learning centers
I was shocked to learn the president is proposing to eliminate federal support for afterschool and summer learning programs.
That funding is critical to children, families and communities, making it possible for about 1.6 million children in Hawaii and across the country to participate in afterschool programs that keep them safe, inspire them to learn, and help their working parents keep their jobs.
If the president succeeds in killing the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative, many of those children will have no safe, supervised place to go after the school day ends.
They’ll be latchkey kids, on their own, on the streets, some getting involved in risky behaviors, and all losing the opportunity to be constructively engaged and learning under the watchful eye of caring adults.
It’s up to Congress to make sure the president doesn’t succeed in killing federal afterschool funding — and up to all of us to make sure our members of Congress know how much we all value afterschool programs.
Paula Adams
Hawaii Afterschool Alliance
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CBO’s Obamacare data weren’t wrong
Charles Krauthhammer, like many columnists, regularly “cherry-picks” facts to support his writings (“Obamacare’s beneficiaries won’t give up entitlements,” Star-Advertiser, March 17).
He repeated the false claim that the Congressional Budget Office was so far off when it estimated 18 million people would be covered by Obamacare exchanges by 2018, but the current number is 10 million.
However, he knows full well that the discrepancy can easily be explained by the 19 states that refused Medicaid expansion.
Jim Wolfe
Nuuanu
