Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Phil Scollo on the air

10th CD Democratic candidate Phil Scollo comes  out swinging in in his first TV ad in his race against Tom Marino. Usually a challenger's first spot is a warm fuzzy bio piece but Scollo doesn't have the time or the money for that. He hits Marino hard over his 2 votes to end Medicare and cut funding for the Tobyhanna Army Depot, the area's largest employer. In the last sentence he says "I'll protect Medicare from Tom Marino."




PoliticsPA has reaction from Marino Campaign Manager Ryan Barton who confirms that Marino wants to preserve Medicare for current or near retirees. What about the rest of us?

Then says “Instead, Mr. Scollo should be explaining to the hardworking taxpayers of Pennsylvania why he has not paid his taxes.”

Well, he did and explained it in several newspaper stories over the last few days

He got sick and his wife got sick and that almost ruined them financially. How many times have you heard of something like this? Scollo has worked out a payment plan with the IRS so he is not dodging his taxes. The Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) is a start to ending this kind of nonsense when everything people have worked to build gets wiped out because of an illness.

Borys has the story.

PL: Tom Marino has also had some health problems but he had taxpayer funded healthcare that got him through it.

I wish both gentlemen and the lady a full recovery.

Karen Scollo explains what they had to deal with.


Less than 10 years ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was scared--both Phil and I were.

As if that weren't enough, our health insurance company decided to deny me coverage. Suddenly, we had no option but to pay for my cancer treatments out of our pockets. If you've been through these treatments, you know how expensive they are. We were at a loss for words.

I remember being angry at the cancer, at the insurance company. We had coverage. We paid the premiums, but they wouldn't cover the chemo. What can you do at a moment like that? What can you say?

At that moment we could have faced bankruptcy -- in addition to the cancer.

Then Phil took on the insurance company, showing them that in fact they had to cover my treatments. It was an intense battle, but he won. He got them to cover the chemotherapy. We pulled together and we survived.

Like many Pennsylvania families, our family has seen its share of ups and downs, especially in the last decade during the financial crisis and economic downturn. 

But my cancer and our fight with the insurance company aren't unique stories. It's an all-too-common American story.

Too many families like ours have faced this type of two-handed battle: trying to survive and trying to avoid bankruptcy or foreclosure.

Every family who faces this experiences true tragedy. And many are not as lucky as we were.

Throughout our battle with cancer (and Phil's later prostate diagnosis) we've had to face familiar modern financial struggles as well. Medical bills. Loss of work. But families know how to survive









7 comments:

Zen said...

I wish the best of health to all involved but a couple questions.

When you talk about Marino's health insurance, you do mean the insurance that was part of the benefits package for his job, right?

If the Scollo's had some major tax liabilities to the IRS, that means they had significant income. You realize that, right?

Anonymous said...

If Marino will vote to end social security he will have a lock on my vote. Until then I will take his vote on medicare.

Anonymous said...

A cancer survivor who doesn't take care of his post cancer health. Obesity is a major risk factor in relapse and/or metastasis. His obesity is evidence that he won't take any part in his own health, so he will rely on the system and add to the cost. NO VOTE

Gort said...

Zen, Even if you make a good living you can still be ruined by medical bills. Marino is in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program which has excellent coverage. He was able to take time off and still get paid.

Anon 10:41 Scollo did not have cancer and he is not obese.

Zen said...

Yes you can be ruined by medical bills. Yes as a congresscritter Marino is in FEHB and it is indeed excellent coverage.

The point is why was their health coverage declined?

Anonymous said...

Millions of Americans are one catastrophic illness or accident away from bankruptcy. What happened to the Scollo family could happen to any one of us. Exactly why Obamacare needs to be kept in place. Fortunately for Marino, he was able to get the best care through his government subsidized health insurance, in another state no less. Yet he is running to repeal Obamacare. Exactly why he will never get my vote or anyone's in our family.

Anonymous said...

Yep, keep on believing Obama http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/10/03/bob-woodward-obama-proposing-cutting-medicare