Catastrophic

Thank you for your accurate and informative article by Gary Libman entitled "High Cost of Victory" on April 25. Cancer is definitely the greatest challenge I have met since my original diagnosis in 1982 at the age of 27. I enjoy full remission now, but have been heavily penalized for using my health insurance. My premiums are prohibitive. In the article Libman made reference to SB-6, which was introduced this year by Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys). SB-6 would provide catastrophic health benefits for Californians.

Re "Experts set threshold for climate-change calamity," Sept. 28 Twenty-five years to reach the climate-change tipping point sounds like a long time. But the truth is it will take all of that time, and more, to rebuild our fossil fuel-based energy system using clean renewable energy. It will take a concerted, sustained effort to make it happen, not business as usual. A good place to start is to implement the "polluter pays" principle: Add a price to carbon so that what a consumer pays includes the cost of the damage caused by burning it. When this price is included in the cost, clean renewables are clearly the low-cost option.

The probability of a catastrophic event is inversely proportional to the number of experts predicting it raised to the power of the media hype. ANTHONY TRONE Upland

The Dodgers are set to open the National League playoffs on Thursday, Oct. 3, according to a postseason schedule released Tuesday by Major League Baseball. That date comes four days after the conclusion of the regular season. The Dodgers thus would have plenty of time to align their starting rotation so Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke could start the first two games of the first round on normal rest. This assumes, of course, that the Dodgers win the NL West. They lead the Arizona Diamondbacks by 12½ games with 25 to play.

It is regrettable that Max Boot demonstrates such a reckless attitude for the U.S. military when he supports bombing Iran (Opinion, April 5). Disregarding the disastrous rise in oil prices, the effect on our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan would be catastrophic. Whose side is he on? BOB DUNHAM Pasadena

Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.) said today that new revenue estimates may enable the 33 million elderly and disabled recipients of Medicare to pay substantially less for controversial catastrophic health care protection enacted last year. Bentsen said the amount Medicare recipients pay could be cut by at least 16% because the Congressional Budget Office said the surplus in the catastrophic care funds "is twice as large as originally estimated, two times bigger than needed" to fulfill the law's financial requirements.

According to the article, I am one of the "affluent elderly." That's news to me. Elderly, OK, but "affluent"? I wish I had the income to match the appellation. Only due to a lifetime of prudence have I achieved "comfortable." Now, in spite of "no new taxes," the catastrophic health care surtax wipes out, to the penny, my state teacher's retirement cost of living raise for this year. Add to that the rise in Medicare Part B premium as well as the sharp rise in medi-gap supplemental insurance, and more to come yearly, how much longer will "comfortable" apply?

The decision by the Reagan Administration to send advanced, shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft Stinger missiles to the Afghan and Angola rebels is a serious mistake. It could be a catastrophic error. I shudder to think if a few of those missiles fall into the hands of anti-American terrorists. Any U.S. airliner in the world could be an inviting target. WILLIAM P. HESSE Chatsworth

A group of House Republicans introduced legislation to delay implementation of major provisions of Medicare's new catastrophic illness protections, including a controversial income tax surcharge. Rep. Harris W. Fawell (R-Ill.), who instigated the legislation, acknowledged an uphill fight in getting the measure considered by the full House. However, the Ways and Means Committee must send the measure to the floor if a majority of House members--218--sign a petition demanding such action.

Re "Flight fight closely watched," May 19 Though the article is very informative about the concerns airport users and the Federal Aviation Administration have regarding Santa Monica's recently passed ordinance, the communities' concerns are not vented enough. Santa Monica and Los Angeles neighborhoods bordering the airport have been forced to live with increased noise, the threat of a potential catastrophic accident and the ongoing onslaught of toxic jet-engine emissions that invade their homes.

Climate change presents two distinct problems. The first is linear: A little more warming causes a little more damage. The second is nonlinear: A little more warming pushes some part of the climate system past a tipping point and the damage becomes catastrophic. We need smart climate policies that address both problems, so we can slow incremental damage while also taking out an insurance policy against the growing risk of catastrophic damage. The Arctic is a prime example of a potential tipping point.

Some 6,000 refugees pour out of Syria every day, straining humanitarian aid resources and destabilizing the country's neighbors. Cumulatively, they already make up 10% of the population of Jordan. And there is no end in sight. Antonio Guterres, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, says the displacement of people has not risen "at such a frightening rate" since the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The absolute size of the humanitarian catastrophe may not yet match the largest of recent times, such as the 2010 floods in Pakistan, but Syria is working hard to catch up. Moreover, its political effects are potentially far greater than those of any tsunami or earthquake.

Life is all about collisions. Having them, avoiding them, learning from them. A recent day brought one between Jim Brown and Buddy Miley. The former is famous and the latter is not. That added to the fascination. Brown is one the better football players ever. He led the NFL in rushing eight times as a member of the Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. He also appeared in several dozen movies, some of them quite good. He is 77. Miley was a football player at a suburban Philadelphia high school in 1973.

Vaudevillian elements notwithstanding, the absurdist theater isn't typically associated with slam-bang entertainment value. Based on the works of Eugene Ionesco, “Ionescopade” at the Odyssey brings slapstick firmly to the fore in a surprisingly light-hearted divertissement. Yet in fine Ionesco style, the general inanity yields horrific hints of a world gone mad. Director/choreographer William Castellino, working with longtime collaborator Mildred Kayden (music and lyrics)

MOSCOW - As Russian authorities searched Saturday for remnants of the space object that startled residents of the southern Ural Mountain region a day earlier, scientists called its shock wave a loud warning that they hoped would inspire action to prevent potential catastrophes. "When a small piece of rock would fall on the Earth 100 years ago, it could have caused minimal damage and would have stayed largely undetected, but Friday's accident fully demonstrated how vulnerable the technological civilization of today has become," Vladimir Lipunov, head of the Space Monitoring Laboratory with Moscow State University, said in an interview.

Cities all around the world are having to come up with creative solutions to their budget problems as the economic slump continues. The city of Dijon, the capital of the Burgundy region of France, has an unusual asset to sell. The picturesque town (also home to the mustard of the same name), held an auction to sell off half of its 7,000-bottle wine cellar to fund social services. The municipal cellar is used to entertain visiting dignitaries.  An article in Bloomberg reported: "Dijon sold half the stock in its wine cellars, raising 151,620 euros ($203,929)

I take issue with your statement that the legislation to expand Medicare benefits is "an excellent piece of legislation" (editorial, "The Applause Is Deserved," June 3). Instead of providing "catastrophic care," the bill is a financial catastrophe for the overwhelming majority of seniors. At first glance, the bill appears to be laudatory. However, after reading the provisions, the cons far outweigh the pros. As you say in the editorial, "But it does not address the greatest health-finance catastrophe facing older Americans--the cost of long-term nursing-home care that each year consumes the life savings of thousands of senior citizens."

Re "New Law Aids Victims of Terrorism," Nov. 27: President Bush signed the terror insurance bill, saying that "should terrorists strike America again, we have a system in place to address financial losses and get our economy back on its feet as quickly as possible." This would ensure that insurance companies and real estate developers do not suffer overwhelming financial losses in a catastrophic terror event. Would that he sign a similar bill for the more than 40 million Americans who do not have health insurance, who may suffer overwhelming medical bills in a catastrophic event and who do not have a system in place to address their financial losses.

The U.S. share of insurance losses from worldwide catastrophes more than doubled in 2012 as Superstorm Sandy lashed the Northeast and the nation suffered its worst drought since the 1930s. The U.S. accounted for about 90%, or $65 billion, of $72 billion in global losses, according to the Impact Forecasting unit of Aon, the London insurance broker. That compares with 40% in 2011, when Japan had higher-than-usual costs because of an earthquake and tsunami. The location and climate of the U.S. make the country more vulnerable than most developed nations to hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and drought.